Panforte is a traditional Italian fruit and nut cake and a real staple around the festive period. It keeps very well and can be made ahead of time making it the perfect homemade food gift.
Many Italian bakeries closely guard their panforte recipe but thankfully for you we’re a lot more generous! In our easy panforte recipe we’ve added a touch of sherry but you could try it with spiced rum or almond liqueur for an extra Italian touch.
If you’d like some more Christmas recipes we’ve got plenty of options. From our easy Christmas cake to Bakewell mince pies, there’s bound to be something you’ll enjoy.
Ingredients
- 100g whole blanched almonds
- 100g whole blanched hazelnuts
- 100g shelled pistachios
- 200g dried figs, chopped
- 50g dried apricots, chopped
- 150g mixed candied peel
- 200g runny honey
- 175g muscovado sugar
- 2tbsp vin santo or sherry
- 85g plain flour
- 3 cardamom pods, crushed
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- ½tsp mixed spice
- ½tsp ground ginger
- ¼tsp ground black pepper
- icing sugar, to dust
- You will need:
- 8in (22cm) round loose bottomed cake tin, lightly oiled and lined with a disc of edible wafer paper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Lightly roast the nuts for 10 mins and reserve, turn the oven down to 160C/Gas 3.
In a pan, heat the figs, apricots, candied peel, honey, muscovado sugar and vin santo, cook down for 5 mins – if the mix gets too dry, add another splash of vin santo.
Add in the roasted nuts, followed by flour and spices and mix well to combine. Pour into the lined cake tin and bake in the middle of the over for 35-40 mins, or until nice and golden on top. Remove from oven and leave to cool completely. Remove from the tin and place on a plate or platter and dust with icing sugar.
Top tip for making Panforte
If you don't want the alcohol, you could opt for water or even some orange juice instead to give a kick of citrus flavour.
