Traditional Siena Fruitcake (Panforte)
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cup whole hazelnuts
- 1cup blanched almonds
- 1cup coarsely chopped candied orange peel
- 1cup finely chopped citron
- 1teaspoon grated lemon zest
- ½cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- Pinch ground white pepper
- ¾cup granulated sugar
- ¾cup honey
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- Confectioners' sugar
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 2
Toast hazelnuts on a baking sheet in the oven until the skins pop and blister, 10 to 15 minutes. Rub the skins from the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel. Toast the almonds on a baking sheet until very pale golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. Chop the almonds and hazelnuts very coarsely.
- Step 3
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
- Step 4
Mix the nuts, orange peel, citron, lemon zest, flour, cinnamon, coriander, cloves, nutmeg and pepper together thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.
- Step 5
Butter a nine-inch springform pan, line the bottom and sides with parchment paper and then butter the paper.
- Step 6
Heat the granulated sugar, honey and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until the syrup registers 242 to 248 degrees on a candy thermometer (a little of the mixture will form a ball when dropped into cold water). Immediately pour the syrup into the mixture and stir quickly until thoroughly blended. Pour immediately into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. The batter will become stiff and sticky very quickly so you must work fast.
- Step 7
Bake about 40 minutes. The panforte won't color or seem very firm even when ready but it will harden as it cools. Cool on a rack until the cake is firm to the touch.
- Step 8
Remove the sides of the pan and invert the cake onto a sheet of waxed paper. Peel off the parchment paper. Dust heavily with confectioners' sugar.
Private Notes
Comments
Panforte is more a candy than a cake -- see the ratio of flour to sugars. It comes out very, very firm -- 'hard as rocks' is not far off from 'you did it right.' I hope you didn't throw them away!
I’ve eaten my share of panforte, both growing up and while in Siena when I studied there, and I can assure you that panforte should never be “hard as rock” as one reviewer suggested. It should be firm enough to hold together but should have a dense, chewy mouth feel.
This is Carol Field's recipe, from her wonderful book, The Italian Baker. I realized this when comparing these ingredients and instructions to Carol's, which I've made several times. If you read the article that's linked at the beginning of the recipe, you'll see that Florence says this recipe is from Carol Field's book. I think this recipe title should reflect that source. In the meantime, this note will have to suffice to give Fields credit. And do make this panforte, as it is excellent.
My result from this recipe was quite good. The baking time of 40 minutes at 300 degrees F was just right. I didn’t have citron or candied lemon peel (it’s difficult to find in my locale and mail order wouldn’t have been timely) so I added small pieces of dried apricot which I had on hand. Next time I might add a bit more of the spices, except for the cinnamon (1 tsp was sufficient).
Delectable! We followed the recipe exactly as written and then savored the gooey, chewy, nutty deliciousness that came out of the oven when it was done! I baked in a square pan and then cut it into 1.5" squares, and then dipped half of each square into melted dipping chocolate and let them sit on some parchment paper until the chocolate was set. Both halves were delicious--the half dipped in chocolate, and the half that was not.
The second time I made this I used honey and it was a little too funny. Honey should probably be reduced. While baking a lot of liquid seeped out of the pan. I made 3 small ones. I baked the 2 smallest ones for 40 minutes and the largest for 50. They all came out very moist and chewy but could probably be slightly less chewy so the panforte is a little easier to eat. Overall pretty good though.
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