Panforte
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By: Sheridan Rogers
This nougat-like cake, rich in nuts, candied peel and spices, is a Christmas specialty of Siena in Italy. It’s from my eBook, A Sweet Little Book, which you can purchase here. Kids can help with the fruit and nut mixture but will need supervision with the honey/sugar mixture. Ideally the tins should be lined with edible rice paper. If you can’t find any, use non-stick baking paper or aluminium foil lightly brushed with vegetable oil.
Ingredients
- hazelnuts 125g, toasted, skinned and roughly chopped
- blanched almonds (or unsalted macadamias) 150g, toasted and roughly chopped
- mixed peel 150g
- plain flour 60g
- cocoa 25g
- ground cinnamon 3 teaspoons
- caster sugar 1/2 cup
- honey 1/2 cup
Preheat oven to 150ºC. Line a 20cm flan ring (or 4 x 12.5cm flan rings) with rice paper and lightly oil the sides. In a mixing bowl, combine the nuts, peel, sifted flour, cocoa and cinnamon. Put the sugar and honey into a small saucepan and bring to simmering point. Leave to simmer for 2-3 minutes (watch it carefully) then pour over the fruit/nut mixture. Stir well with a wooden spoon to combine – it will be very sticky. Spoon into the prepared tin, pressing down firmly (as it is a very sticky mixture, it will help if you dip your hands in milk to do this). Put another layer of rice paper on top, if you’re using it. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool. Turn out and sprinkle with sifted icing sugar. Cut into wedges and wrap in foil or cellophane.