Panforte Di Sienna Italian Fruit Cake Recipes

PANFORTE DI SIENNA (ITALIAN FRUIT CAKE)

Steps:

• Position the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 325° F. Coat the pan with cooking spray, then lay a round of parchment in the bottom, and then coat the top of the parchment with cooking spray. Dust flour all the way around the sides and the bottom and tap out any extra. The panforte will be very sticky, so you want the pan to be well-prepared.
• In the large bowl, toss together prepared almonds, hazelnuts, figs, apricots, and orange peels.
• In the medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cocoa powder, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and ground pepper. Make sure all the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients to the fruit and nuts and toss together until everything is thoroughly coated.
• In the medium sauce pan with the candy thermometer attached, add the sugar, honey and butter and cook over medium heat until the temperature reaches 217° F. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the candy thermometer. Quickly pour the sugar mixture over the fruit and nuts mixture and stir together with a nonstick spatula until everything is thoroughly coated.
• Pour into the prepared baking pan and spread the mixture around evenly.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the surface is bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
• To serve, dust with powdered sugar and cut into thin slices. Wrap in parchment and plastic wrap to store.

PANFORTE DI SIENA CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 180 degree C / 350 F.
• Spray spring form pan with nonstick spray & line the bottom with parchment paper.
• Bake raw hazelnuts & almonds about 10-15 minutes until they are fragrant and the skins go away easily.
• Place the baked nuts on a wire rack. Cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow the nuts steam for 5-10 minutes. Rub the nuts with your hands to get rid of the skins. Let them cool completely before you will chop them coarsely. I didn't chop my hazelnuts because I just like them this way.
• Now in a large bowl, combine flour, chopped nuts, candied mango, salt, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground cinnamon & ground ginger.
• Melt chocolate chips over the pan of simmering water. Pour in over fruit & nut mixture.
• In a saucepan with a candy thermometer, mix together sugar and honey. Over medium heat bring it to boil. Sugar must dissolve. Continue to boil mixture until temperature reaches 115 degree C or 240 F( don't stir).
• Pour honey-sugar mixture (syrup) over nut & fruit mixture. Combine quickly as it will stiffen immediately.
• Transfer into the prepared spring form, evenly spread & bake 30 minutes (180 C/ 350F).
• Dust the top of Panforte cake with confectioners or icing sugar.
• You can store this Panforte cake up to 2 months. This cake is very reach so I advice to serve it in thin slices.

SIENA CAKE - PANFORTE DE SIENA

Steps:

• Chop almonds, hazelnuts, apricots, pineapple, orange and lemon peel.
• Mix well with flour, cinnamon, and cocoa.
• Put sugar and honey in a saucepan, stirring over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add chocolate to saucepan, stir until melted, and remove from heat.
• Combine with fruit and nut mixture; cut parchment paper circle to fit bottom of 8" well-buttered round cake pan, then butter the paper and evenly spread the batter into the pan.
• Bake at 300 degrees F for 35 minutes.
• Let cool in pan.
• Remove cake from pan, wrap in foil, and let stand overnight.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into thin wedges.
• Wrapped in aluminum foil to stay air-tight, it will keep for weeks, refrigeration not needed.
• Note: the Julesong photo accompanying this cake was taken about a month after it was made, because this cake can keep for so long and we forgot to take pics when it was newly done and the powdered sugar was still all pretty. :) Please excuse the slightly messy nature of the cake in the photo - we'll replace it with a good one, next year.

PANFORTE DI SIENA - TRADITIONAL TUSCAN HONEY / NUT CAKE

Steps:

• Toast the almonds under the grill / broiler until lightly browned; place in a bowl.
• Toast the hazelnuts until the skins split. Place on a dry tea towel and rub off the skins.
• Roughly chop the hazelnuts and add to the almonds with the mixed peel.
• Chop the apricots and pineapple fairly finely, add to the nuts with the orange rind; mix well.
• Sift the flour with the cocoa and cinnamon, add to the nut mixture and mix evenly.
• Line a round 8" cake tin or deep loose base flan tin with baking parchment.
• Put the sugar and honey into a saucepan; heat until the sugar dissolves, then boil gently for approximately 5 minutes or until mixture thickens & begins to turn a deeper shade of brown.
• Quickly add to the nut mixture and mix evenly. turn into the prepared tin & level the top using the back of a damp metal spoon.
• Cook in a preheated oven, 150°°C / 300F for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin until cold. Remove from the tin and carefully peel off the paper.
• Before serving, dredge the cake heavily with the icing sugar. Serve in very thin slices as this is an incredibly rich cake!

PANFORTE DI SIENA

Steps:

• THERE IS NO FAT. THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE.
• Turn oven on to 350 and toast hazelnuts until golden - about 15 minutes. Return oven to 300 after toasting.
• Line a pie plate with parchment paper so that the paper comes up the sides too. This is crucial. Maybe wax paper will work. PAM both the plate before the paper and then the paper. This is a major sticker.
• Drain orange peel if you have soaked it in brandy. Combine well all ingredients except honey and sugar. Stir. Stir. Stir.
• Heat honey and sugar until soft ball stage, 240 degrees F. Careful. It gets there real fast so watch for scorching.
• Turn out to a large bowl and add the dry ingredients. Combine. You have a dense mass difficult to combine which is why you need a large bowl.
• Place in lined pie plate and spread - shouldn't be more than 3/4 inches high. Wet your hands to spread and smooth it out. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn it out to an oiled plate and remove paper. When cool, cut into small squares. I then shake the totally cooled pieces in a bag with powdered sugar (to which cinnamon can be added). Cocoa powder is good, also, for shaking inches Store in air tight container. Keeps forever. Note: This is not a "dessert" but more adult candy. Good for snacking with a glass of wine or brandy. Stuff keeps for weeks in an air-tight container which is why the Italian Crusaders brought it to their wars in the Middle East.