Panforte de Siena
A dense Tuscan spiced fruit and nut cake bound with cooked sugar syrup rather than a flour-based batter, the syrup cooked to a precise soft-ball stage since underdone syrup leaves the panforte too soft to slice and overdone syrup sets it into something closer to brittle candy. Toasting the nuts before folding them into the hot syrup is what keeps their flavour from tasting raw against the concentrated sweetness of the fruit and honey.
Christoph's Panforte de Siena, the syrup cooked to a precise soft-ball stage for the right texture.
Ingredients
Written for a 20 cm round tin
Units
Temperature
Servings
Panforte
- 150 g almonds rounded
- 150 g hazelnuts rounded
- 200 g candied orange peel, chopped rounded
- 100 g dried figs, chopped rounded
- 100 g flour rounded
- 8 g ground cinnamon rounded
- 3 g ground cloves rounded
- 3 g ground white pepper rounded
- 150 g sugar rounded
- 150 g honey rounded
- 30 g powdered sugar, for dusting rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan). Toast the almonds and hazelnuts on a sheet for 10 minutes, until lightly golden and fragrant. Let cool, then roughly chop.
- Line a 20 cm round tin with parchment or edible rice paper.
- Combine the toasted nuts, candied orange peel, figs, flour, cinnamon, cloves and white pepper in a large bowl.
- Heat the sugar and honey together in a pot over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Clip on a candy thermometer and cook, without stirring, until it reaches 115 to 118°C, the soft-ball stage.
- Pour the hot syrup over the nut mixture immediately and stir quickly to combine, before it begins to set.
- Press firmly into the prepared tin, smoothing the top with wet hands or the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until just set but still slightly soft in the centre; it will firm up as it cools. Let cool completely in the tin before turning out. Dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
- Cook the syrup to a precise soft-ball stage, not by guesswork. Underdone syrup sets too soft to slice cleanly; overdone syrup hardens the panforte into something closer to brittle candy. A thermometer takes the guesswork out entirely.
- Toast the nuts before mixing them in. Raw nuts folded straight into the hot syrup taste comparatively flat against the concentrated sweetness of the fruit and honey; toasting first gives them enough depth to hold their own.
- Work quickly once the hot syrup is poured over the nuts. It begins to set within moments, and getting everything pressed into the tin before it stiffens is what gives a dense, even texture rather than lumps.
- It keeps for weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, and the flavour actually improves after a few days as the spices settle.
Ingredient substitutions
- Any mix of nuts and dried fruit can be used in similar proportions, though almonds and hazelnuts with candied citrus are the classic Sienese combination.
- Edible rice paper on the base is traditional and can be left on when serving, if used.
- Serve in thin wedges, since panforte is very dense and rich.
From Christoph Mayer