Traditional Siena Fruitcake Panforte 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.

TRADITIONAL SIENA FRUITCAKE (PANFORTE)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• 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.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
• Mix the nuts, orange peel, citron, lemon zest, flour, cinnamon, coriander, cloves, nutmeg and pepper together thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.
• Butter a nine-inch springform pan, line the bottom and sides with parchment paper and then butter the paper.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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

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.