Perfect panforte

Serves 20 Cakes, Bread and Pastries

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Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C F/Gas 6. Thoroughly grease a 20cm round springform cake tin or line it with baking paper. Line a shallow roasting dish with baking paper.

Spread the almonds and hazelnuts out at either end of the prepared roasting dish and roast in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the nuts are fragrant and the hazelnut skins are splitting. Remove and allow to cool.

Put the hazelnuts in a clean tea towel and rub between your hands to remove most of the loose skins (don’t worry if they don’t all come off). Transfer the nuts to a large bowl, add the dried fruit, flour, cocoa and cinnamon and stir to combine.

Put the honey and sugar in a pan and boil until the mixture reaches ‘soft ball’ stage. It’s ready when it reaches 112–116C (234–241F) on a sugar thermometer, or when a small drop of mixture dropped into a glass of cold water forms a soft ball when rolled between your fingers.

Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until it has melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and, working quickly, mix with gloved hands or a very strong wooden spoon until combined (you don’t want the toffee mixture to set before it’s mixed through the fruit and nuts).

Press evenly into the prepared cake tin and bake for around 35 minutes until set.

Remove the panforte from the tin while still warm. When cool, dust liberally with icing sugar before slicing. It will keep fresh for weeks in an airtight container.

This recipe was taken from the August/September 2021 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe, click here.