The high, cylindrical baba or babka, sometimes over a foot high, originated in Poland and the Ukraine. (The word means grandmother or woman.) It is related to the Russian Easter bread, kulich, and the krendel, both made with raisin-laced doughs. The square-shaped, musically named mazurka (or mazurek) is a Russian and Polish meringue-type feast-day treat made with egg whites, sugar and raisins.
Italy's panettone is a cylindrical bread that appears on Easter, Christmas and other festive occasions. Baking technicians experimenting with California raisins in Italian panettone formulas discovered that the California raisins plumped more than other dried vine fruits in finished products.