Panforte means ‘strong bread’, an apt inscription for this dense, fruity loaf that still retains its medieval flavour. It’s also known as Siena Cake – Siena possibly being the first Italian city to user sugar and spices heavily influenced by Silk Road merchants and their exotic products.  Makes one 23cm/9.5 inch cake.

Panforte

INGREDIENTS: 

• 110g/ ¾ cup hazelnuts
• 110g/ ¾ cup almonds
• 110g/3/4 cup candied pineapple, chopped
• 125g/ 1 cup candied mixed peel, chopped
• Grated zest of I lemon
• 75g/ ¼ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Pinch of whit3e pepper
• 150g/1 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 50g/3.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Icing sugar​

METHOD:

1. Line a 23cm/9.5-inch springform tin with greaseproof paper or baking parchment and grease well with butter. Toast the nuts under a hot grill, turning them so they brown on all sides, then leave to cool. Put the nuts in a bowl with the mixed peel, pineapple, lemon zest, flour and spices and toss together. Preheat the oven to 150˚C/300˚F/Gas 2).
2. Put the sugar, hone and butter in a saucepan and melt them together. Cook the syrup until it reaches 120˚C/250˚F on a sugar thermometer.  
3. Pour the syrup into the nut mixture and mix well, working fast before it stiffens too much.  Pour straight into the tin, smooth the surface and bake for 35 minutes.
4. Cool in the tin until the cake firms up enough to remove the side of the tin. Peel off the paper and leave to cool completely. Dust the top heavily with icing sugar.

Notes:

• Unlike other cakes, this will neither firm up as it cooks or colour at all, so you need to time it very carefully.