Cakes
Panforte
This Italian Panforte speciality is perfect for homemade gifts or for finishing a festive meal, simply served with dessert wine or coffee.
Ingredients
- : sunflower or vegetable oil, for greasing
- edible rice paper (see recipe tip)
- almonds: 125g/4½oz whole, blanched almonds
- walnut: 100g/3½oz shelled walnut pieces
- pistachios: 75g/2¾oz shelled pistachios
- candied peel: 100g/3½oz candied peel, whole chunks if you can, finely chopped
- : 100g/3½oz dried figs, chopped
- dates: 100g/3½oz stoned dates, chopped
- dried apricots: 50g/1¾oz dried apricots, chopped
- plain flour: 75g/2¾oz plain flour
- cocoa powder: 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- cinnamon: 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- mixed spice: ½ tsp mixed spice
- ground ginger: ½ tsp ground ginger
- honey: 200g/7oz runny honey
- caster sugar: 200g/7oz golden caster sugar
- sherry: 2 tbsp marsala or sweet-medium sherry
- icing sugar: icing sugar, to dust
Method for Panforte
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Heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease the base of a 20cm/8in springform or loose-bottomed cake tin with a little of the oil, then line with edible rice paper (or baking paper if you can’t find it). Tip the almonds onto a baking tray and roast for 5–8 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Remove and set aside to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 150C/Fan 130C/Gas 2.
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When the almonds are cool enough to handle, roughly chop with the walnuts and pistachios. Tip into a mixing bowl with all the dried fruit, flour, cocoa and spices. Mix together.
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Heat the honey, sugar and marsala (or sherry), in a saucepan over a medium heat until the sugar has melted. Allow to bubble for 3 minutes. Carefully pour over the fruit-nut mixture and mix through. Scrape into the tin and use a wet spoon to press the mixture down into a firm, flat cake. Bake for 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes, or until the surface is still soft, but not sticky to touch.
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Cool the panforte in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully run a palette knife around the edge to release, and remove from the tin. If using edible paper, keep on, otherwise remove the baking paper. Cool completely on a wire rack, then dust thickly with icing sugar. Cut into thin wedges to serve.
Panforte