Donna Barasch, of the Orange County Cooking School, introduced us to this wonderful rich fruitcake. They say it keeps forever – but in this household – three days is the max unless it is hidden away somewhere.
Ingredients:
- 2/3 c honey
- 2/3 c sugar
- 2/3 c finely diced candied orange peel
- 1 1/2 c blanched almonds, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped*
- 2/3 c all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Flour, for dusting
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
(* I used a mixture of chopped almonds, pignoli nuts and walnuts).
Directions:
- Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 300°.
- Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch diameter pan 2 inches deep, with buttered foil.
- Combine the honey and sugar in a medium saucepan.
- Stir well to mix, then place on low heat.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a full boil, then remove from heat.
- Stir in the candied fruit and almonds.
- Stir together the flour and spices.
- Add them to the batter.
- Stir until smooth.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
- Smooth the top.
- Sift a couple of tablespoons of the flour into the top of the panforte so it doesn’t crust while baking, this will be removed later.
- Bake until the panforte is firm and gently simmering just around the edges, about 20-25 minutes.
- Cool in the pan on a rack.
- When the panforte is completely cool, invert it to remove the flour from the top, use a dry brush to get it all off.
- Carefully peel away the foil.
- Stand the panforte right-side-up.
- Wrap in plastic or foil and keep at room temperature, it keeps almost indefinitely.
- To serve, sift a thin layer of the confectioners’ sugar over the top. S
- Serve small wedges, they are eaten out of hand, not with a fork.
- This is more like a confection or candy than it is a cake. It is dense, very hard to cut and you can only have a small bite.
Serves: Makes one 8-inch (20-cm) cake, about 20 small servings.
Source: Stacey Snacks, based on Nick Malgreai’s recipe
