In a world choking on food trends, we can almost hear you yawn at the mere mention of panforte. But panforte doesn’t care about going viral on The Tok – it’s so above all that noise. It’s as eternal as Siena’s cobbles and is never flashy, never out of date. Dense, chewy, spiced and totally delicious, we make batches for edible gifts at Christmas time because it’s way less hassle than constructing fruit mince pies or baking an English-style fruit cake. With its long shelf life (we’d like to say its indestructible but we haven’t put that to the test) it will keep for months and even up to a year, allegedly, wrapped well and stored in a dry, cool place. It’s one of Italy’s so-called ‘keeping cakes’, made without using a lot of moisture, and heavy on the honey and spices, which act as natural preservatives. It’s even said to improve with age. We make ours well in advance to fit into our busy end-of-year routines.

There are a few tips and tricks to know when making panforte; firstly, you need to boil the honey and sugar to the soft ball stage (a sugar thermometer helps with temperature accuracy and the temperature range is in the recipe). Mixing everything together requires really getting in with your hands, and this has to be done while the honey mixture is still rather hot. That’s because if you let it cool first, it will thicken into an intransigent mass and won’t mix in. Ever. You need to work/knead the mixture really, really hard to amalgamate the dry mixture with the honey mixture, remembering that ‘panforte’ doesn’t literally translate to ‘strong bread’ for no good reason. 

Did you know that panforte was first made around the 13th century? Back then it was considered the height of luxury due to the expensive ingredients required—nuts, dried fruits, spices like cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and honey. These were only available to the very wealthy, or were reserved for special occasions such as Christmas and religious festivals. Over time, panforte has evolved to be less spice-heavy than the original versions; in 1879 Panforte Margherita was created in honour of Queen Margherita of Savoy when she visited Siena, and this is more or less the version we know today. Bakeries and home cooks all have their own slightly tweaked version – this is the one we have been making for a very long time.  

SMAKES 1 x 20cm CAKE

softened butter, for greasing

150g whole almonds

125g hazelnuts

300g dried fruit (a mix of chopped dried figs, raisins, sultanas and candied peel)

100g (⅔ cup) plain flour, plus extra, for dusting

2½ tbsp cocoa

1½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp each ground ginger and allspice

large pinch ground cloves

150g (⅔ cup) caster sugar

175g (½ cup) honey

75g dark chocolate, chopped

icing sugar, to serve

Preheat the oven to 175˚C. Line the base of a shallow, 20cm cake tin with baking paper, then lightly grease the side and dust with flour.

Place the almonds and hazelnuts on separate, small trays, then roast for about 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven, then place the hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel and wrap tightly. Leave to cool. While the nuts are still in the towel, rub them vigorously to loosen the skin, then remove as much of the skin as possible. very coarsely chop the hazelnuts and almonds then place them in a large bowl. Add the chopped fruit to the bowl then sift in the flour, cocoa and spices, and toss to mix everything well. 

Combine the sugar and honey in a small saucepan, then bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 5-6 minutes until the mixture reaches soft ball stage, or 112-115C on a sugar thermometer. (To test for the soft ball stage without a thermometer, drop a few drops of the mixture into a small glass half filled with cold water; it will immediately drop to the bottom and form a mass. Lift it out and roll it in your fingers; if it forms a soft ball-shape, it’s ready). Take care not to over cook the mixture or it will be too firm to mix into the other ingredients. 

Remove the syrup from the heat, add the chocolate, and swirl to melt and combine the chocolate. 

Working quickly and taking care as the mixture will be very hot, add the syrup mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl, then use a wooden spoon to mix it in as much as you can. When it becomes too hard to stir, use your hands to knead to form a firm dough-like mixture; it will; be very thick so you really need to use a bit of muscle. Press the mixture evenly into the lined pan, then bake for 35 minutes or until firm in the middle; it’s hard to tell exactly when panforte is cooked as it’s firm anyway, but it should look a little drier all over than it did when it went into the oven. Cool completely  in the pan, then wrap in plastic wrap until ready to serve. To serve, sprinkle the top with icing sugar and cut into wedges using a large, heavy knife.