Panforte

Brigitte Hafner

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• 1-2 hours 
• Medium 
• Italian 
• Makes 1

A chewy nut- and fruit-filled Italian Christmas cake. Serve in thin slices with coffee.

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Ingredients

Brigitte Hafner's panforte.Photo: Marina Oliphant

• 600g blanched almonds
• 400g figs, roughly chopped
• 240g raisins
• 180g candied orange and lemon peel, chopped*
• 200g flour
• 2 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 300g honey
• 250g sugar
• 300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• Rice paper for baking**

Method

Preheat oven to 185C. Prepare two 28cm x 18cm baking tins by greasing them then lining the bottom with rice paper.

Roast almonds in oven till golden brown. In a large bowl, mix the figs, raisins, candied fruit, flour, cocoa and spices.

In a pot over medium heat, melt the honey and sugar together until frothy. Stir to dissolve. In a microwave or over a pot of simmering water, gently melt the chocolate pieces, being careful not to overcook them.

Remove the hot roasted almonds from the oven and add to the mixed fruits and spices. Add the melted chocolate, then the honey. (It is easier to do all the mixing while ingredients are still hot.) Stir the mixture well with a wooden spoon.

Spoon the panforte mixture evenly into the two baking tins. With wet hands, press down to spread the mixture and make a smooth, flat surface. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Cool on a cake rack then cut into 3cm-wide pieces. Wrap with foil and store in an airtight container. Panforte will keep for a few weeks if stored this way.

* Instead of mixed peel, I prefer Italian candied fruit, available at continental and specialist delicatessens.
** Rice paper is available from most supermarkets.

Panforte bianco with pistachios, almonds and cherries

Karen Martini

all details

• 1-2 hours 
• Difficult 
• Italian 
• Serves Many

This version of panforte makes a perfect gift and a little goes a long way. Serve thin slices of it with coffee late on Christmas Day.

 
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Paneforte bliss: buy the best chocolate and fruit you can.Photo: Marina Oliphant

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Ingredients

100g blanched almonds

55g plain flour

10g cocoa powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1½ tsp ground fennel

1½ tsp ground white pepper

140g Australian dried apricots, cut in quarters

120g dried cherries

100g shelled pistachio nuts, unsalted

2 tbsp amaretto or Frangelico

100g high-quality white chocolate, roughly chopped

200g honey

100g castor sugar

1 packet rice paper, to line tin (available from specialty food stores)

icing sugar, for dusting

extra cherries, pistachios, almonds and glace cherries (optional) for garnishing

Method

1. Roast almonds in a hot oven for 5 minutes. Blitz almonds in a food processor until well chopped (about 1 minute).

2. Sift flour and cocoa together into a bowl. Add the spices, dried fruit, ground almonds, pistachios, liqueur and the chopped chocolate and mix to combine evenly.

3. Preheat oven to 125C fan-forced (145C conventional).

4. In a saucepan over a low heat, bring honey and sugar to 118C (measure with a sugar thermometer, it will come to temperature quickly). Remove from the heat and pour straight over the flour, nut and fruit mix and combine quickly. The mixture will be quite stiff and hard to work, but persevere.

5. Press into a round, loose-bottomed cake tin about 20-22 centimetres, lined with rice paper and well dusted with icing sugar. Flatten the mix evenly into the tin and dust the top well with icing sugar. Decorate with extra almonds, pistachios and cherries. Bake for 25-30 minutes. It will swell slightly but won't brown; you might need to bake for longer depending on your oven.

6. Once well cooled, remove carefully from the tin and slice thinly to serve.

Note: The result really relies on the quality of the dried fruit and chocolate, so buy the best you can.