‘Tis the season when strange cakes in boxes appear at your local grocery store. Often, they are a rendition of Panettone, an Italian bricoche cake with raisins and, often, they are

best left in those boxes. Grand Central Bakery, however, bakes their own version for the holidays; it just arrived this week and will be available until December 24. The vanilla-scented bread ($13.75) is studded with raisins, as well as house-candied organic citrus peel–the latter of which is one of those great touches the bakery is famous for. These cakes are also about half the size of those in the box, and come wrapped in Grand Central packagaging with a dark green holiday ribbon, making them a lovely gift to take to a party. Or, you can just dunk a slice in your morning coffee. GCB even has a video on their website, grandcentralbakery.com, documenting the baking of them in case you’re interested.E