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Panforte di Siena – a Tuscan Christmas cake made with candied fruit, nuts, festive spices and dusted with powdered sugar. This dense and chewy fruitcake is such a delicious Christmas treat and perfecting for gifting!
As soon as you bite into panforte it instantly tastes of Christmas, the combination of warming spices, candied fruit and nuts make the most delicious festive treat.
Just like Ricciarelli (probably my fav Christmas cookie), this cake is from Siena, Tuscany, and was originally derived from Panpepato (another delicious Christmas cake) due to the strong spices and pepper used.
After living in Siena for 2 years we tasted a lot of panforte and there are so many variations, I loved seeing the displays of it in bakery windows all wrapped in beautiful paper for gifting.
This recipe is super easy to make at home and lasts up to 3 weeks (possibly longer) so it’s perfect for wrapping up as a Christmas gift for your friends and family but trust me, you’ll want to keep some for yourself too it’s just too delicious to resist.
Interested in Italian Christmas food? Check out our Traditional Italian Christmas Foods post to learn more about what Italians eat at Christmas in each Italian region.
Ingredients – what you need
To make panforte you need flour (Italian 00 or all-purpose flour), mixed nuts (we used blanched almonds and hazelnuts), candied mixed peel, runny honey, sugar, spices (ground cinnamon, coriander, cloves, and nutmeg), and powdered sugar for dusting.
The essential equipment you need to make panforte is a springform cake pan (we used a 7.5 inch), baking parchment or rice paper, and a silicone spatula for mixing the sticky honey mixture.
See the photo below that shows all the ingredients you need!
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Pin ItHow to make Panforte – step by step
Mix the flour, spices, nuts and candied peel in a large mixing bowl, set aside (photos 1 & 2).
In a large pot or Dutch Oven add the sugar and honey on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is slightly bubbling (photos 3 & 4).
Turn the heat down low and add the flour and nut mixture to the honey, stir it quickly until it is thoroughly combined. It will be very sticky so a silicone spatula works best for this (photos 5 & 6).
Once combined, spoon the mixture into the cake pan and smooth it out as you best you can (photo 7).
Put in the oven and bake the panforte for 35 minutes, remove and allow to cool completely (photo 8).
Once cooled remove from the cake pan and parchment paper and dust heavily with powdered sugar. Slice and serve or store for later.
Top tips and recipe FAQs
- Line your cake pan first – traditionally panforte is made using rice paper but I find that baking parchment works just as well just make sure you line it all the way up the sides so it’s easy to remove. If you use rice paper you don’t need to remove it as it’s edible.
- Work fast – when you add the dry ingredients to the honey mixture you need to stir to combine everything and place it in the cake pan relatively fast because as the honey cools it will start to harden making it much harder to work with.
- Use a silicone spatula – this makes it so much easier to stir the sticky panforte mixture because the silicone spatula is non-stick.
- Let it cool – let the panforte cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar or it’ll just dissolve. You also want it to be completely cooled before slicing.
- Gift it – wrap your Panforte di Siena in wax paper with a pretty ribbon and gift it to your family and friends for Christmas.
You can use any nuts you like to make panforte. I like to use blanched almonds and hazelnuts and I sometimes add in unsalted pistachios which are delicious too.
Panforte lasts for quite a long time making it great for gifting. Wrap in plastic wrap and store it in a cookie tin or container for up to 3 weeks.
Yes, it freezes really well. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then in foil or in a container and freeze. Let it thaw completely before serving.
More Italian Christmas desserts
- Chocolate Salami (Salame di Cioccolato)
- Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)
- Struffoli – Italian Honey Balls
- Panettone Bombe – Christmas Ice Cream Cake
- Panettone Bread Pudding
If you’ve tried this Panforte Recipe or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
Step By Step Photos Above
Most of our recipes come with step by step photos, helpful tips and tricks to make it perfectly first time and even video!
Panforte
Equipment
- 7-8 inch cake pan
- Silicone spatula (the mixture is very sticky so I really recommend using this)
- Non-stick baking parchment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Italian 00 or all-purpose flour, (140g)
- 1 cup sugar, (200g)
- 3 cups mixed nuts, we used almonds and hazelnuts (300g)
- 1 heaped cup candied mixed peel, (200g)
- ½ cup runny honey, (150g)
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- a pinch of nutmeg
For serving
- powdered sugar, (icing sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
- Line a 7-8 inch cake pan with parchment paper making sure you line both the bottom and the sides. To help the baking parchment stick to the cake pan you can rub a little butter or spray a little oil on the cake pan first.
- Mix the flour, spices, nuts and candied peel in a large mixing bowl, set aside.
- In a large pot or Dutch Oven add the sugar and honey on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is slightly bubbling.
- Turn the heat down low and add the flour and nut mixture to the honey, stir it quickly until it is thoroughly combined. It will be very sticky so a silicone spatula works best for this.
- Once combined, spoon the mixture into the cake pan and smooth it out as you best you can.
- Put in the oven and bake the panforte for 35 minutes, remove and allow to cool completely.
- Once cooled remove from the cake pan and parchment paper and dust heavily with powdered sugar.
- Slice and serve or store for later.
Video
Notes
- Line your cake pan first – traditionally panforte is made using rice paper but I find that baking parchment works just as well just make sure you line it all the way up the sides so it’s easy to remove. If you use rice paper you don’t need to remove it as it’s edible.
- Work fast – when you add the dry ingredients to the honey mixture you need to stir to combine everything and place it in the cake pan relatively fast because as the honey cools it will start to harden making it much harder to work with.
- Use a silicone spatula – this makes it so much easier to stir the sticky panforte mixture because the silicone spatula is non-stick.
- Let it cool – let the panforte cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar or it’ll just dissolve. You also want it to be completely cooled before slicing.
- Gift it – wrap your Panforte di Siena in wax paper with a pretty ribbon and gift it to your family and friends for Christmas.
- Storage – this keeps well in an airtight container wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 weeks or can be frozen. If freezing thaw completely before serving.
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love this recipe. It’s a snap to make it vegan* using agave or even thinned corn syrup and still maintain the flavor and integrity of the cake. Thank you!
*Vegan family members will love it, too!
A question not a comment. Do you toast the nuts first?
Hi Deb, I don’t but you can if you want to.
Thanks Emily. I added 2 tabs cocoa powder. It turned out beautifully and tastes amazing !
Yay, so happy you enjoyed it!
Hi Emily. This looks delicious. I think I made one similar years ago. I’ve seen some recipes with cocoa or chocolate. What do you think? Could I add cocoa to this recipe?
Hi Jennifer, sure, you could replace some of the flour with cocoa powder and even add in some chopped up chocolate with the nuts or add in melted chocolate with the honey. Let me know how it goes!