After a seven course meal, who wants
cake? Everyone, especially at Christmas and definitely when it is the rich,
full-bodied Tuscan fruit cake or Sienese panforte. In our home in southwestern
Pennsylvania they were always on the Christmas table accompanied by torrone
from Cremona and amaretti cookies from Saronno.
The two desserts are almost identical, yet distinctly
different. Both are filled with spices, candied fruit, and nuts making
for strong flavors. The fruit cake is high and fluffy, while the panforte
is almost flat, only an inch or so in height. The fruit cake is delicate
despite the fruit and nuts, while the panforte is very chewy. Both cakes
need to age at least a month so the mouthwatering flavors have an opportunity
to blend. Both share a common history.
Spices did not reach Italy until the Venetian
merchants opened the trade routes to the Middle and Far East in the Middle
Ages. When those first pungent, wonderful spices reached the Italian kitchens
they were used in abundance, often combining half a dozen flavors in both
savory and sweet dishes in varying secret combinations. These two cakes
are examples.
I know little of the history of the fruit
cake, but panforte’s legacy was easy to find as everyone who enjoys its
delights knows it is a specialty of the Tuscan city of Siena. In Siena
each of the city’s bakers has guarded the family’s ingredients, especially
the amount and variety of spices, for centuries. Culinary historians are
not sure of its exact origin, but it has been suggested that panforte was
invented in the bakeries of Sienese monks and, because of its durability,
accompanied medieval knights on crusade. Panforte is an absolute essential
for a traditional Tuscan Christmas. In the sixteenth century, in addition
to gracing the Christmas table, miniature panforte were hung as decorations.
Today most families are satisfied to buy one to serve as dessert on Christmas
Day. We make our own.
When I was growing up, the day after Thanksgiving
my mother and I would take the bus from Monessen to Pittsburgh. The last
stop on our shopping list was a trip to Donahue’s on Fifth Avenue where
we would buy our nuts and candied fruit. Then we lugged our goodies off
to a movie theater to see a film. (Thank God Kaufmann’s and all the big
department stores delivered purchases then or we would have needed a truck
to get home.) We took the last bus home to Monessen.
Once we got all the goodies home, we spent
hours of family fun sitting around the kitchen table shelling the nuts
and chopping the candied fruit (eating as many as we prepared). Then my
mother prepared the fruit cake and the panforte.
Today Donahue’s is gone. Most of the ingredients
are available in any supermarket, but the final product is only as good
as the ingredients you put into it. Take the time to find good candied
fruit sold by weight, not in a plastic container. You can buy the nuts
already shelled, but shelling them yourself is, of course, better. These
recipes are easy and absolutely guaranteed to be the supreme ending to
your Christmas feast!
Fruit and Nut Cake
Torta di Frutta Candita e Noci
1 pound almonds
1 pound Brazil nuts
1 pound walnuts
1 pound hazelnuts
1 pound dates
1/2 pound red candied cherries
1/2 pound candied pineapple
2 pounds mixed candied fruit
6 T flour
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
1-1/2 cups butter
2-1/4 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup molasses
2-1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 shots whisky or rum
1-2 cups strong black coffee
Shell and chop nuts into large chunks. Blanch
almonds in hot water, remove skins, cut lengthwise. Cut Brazil nuts, walnuts,
and hazelnuts sideways. Set aside. Cut dates in thirds, cherries in half,
pineapple slices in eighths. Add candied fruit and combine all in a large
bowl or pot. Add enough flour to coat and keep from sticking together (4
to 6 tablespoons). Set aside (may be stored covered for several days).
Sift flour, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon
together. Set aside. Cream butter on medium speed, slowly add sugar, then
cream. When well mixed add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla.
In separate bowl combine molasses with baking
soda. Stir. When bubbly alternately add it and sifted ingredients to the
butter mixture. Mix. Add whisky or rum. Remove from mixer and add to dry
ingredients in a large bowl or pot. Mix with your hands. Use enough strong
coffee to wash out the mixing bowl (1 to 1-1/2 cups), and add to the combined
batter. The consistency should be very thick.
You will need 4 to 6 baking pans depending
on size. Put similar sizes into oven together. Line all pans with wax paper.
Fill each to 1 inch from top. Push exposed fruit and nuts into batter.
Rinse empty bowl with more coffee and pour onto panned cakes covering the
top evenly. Trim excess wax paper.
Bake in 300-degree oven for 1-1/2 to
2 hours. When cool, de-pan and remove wax paper. Allow to set for a day.
Wrap in foil. Store in cupboard or freezer. Two days before serving remove,
unwrap, and cover with a cloth saturated with rum or whisky.
Yield: 4-6 eight-inch cakes. We often make a number of
4-inch cakes to give as gifts.
Panforte
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup almonds
1-1/4 cups candied fruit
1 tsp. candied lemon peel
2/3 cup flour
1 T cocoa
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
Confectioners’ sugar
1 parchment sheet
(optional)
Spread hazelnuts and peeled whole almonds on
separate cookie sheets. Toast at 350 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove,
rub hazelnuts in a towel, removing skins. Chop nuts in half (can remain
whole). Chop candied fruit and lemon peel into chunky pieces. Combine all
in a large bowl and add flour, cocoa, cinnamon, coriander, cloves, nutmeg,
pepper, and vanilla. Toss.
Grease bottom of 9-inch springform pan and
line with parchment paper (optional). Grease paper.
Place sugar and honey in saucepan and heat
to 242 degrees (use a candy thermometer) until it becomes a clear syrup.
If it bubbles, remove from heat and stir until bubbles subside. Pour over
fruit-nut mixture, stir, pour into springform pan. Smooth top with a floured
spatula.
Heat oven to 300 degrees, bake 35 minutes.
Remove sides of pan. Allow to cool 1 hour. Add enough confectioners’ sugar
to make it pure white. Press down firmly. Allow to cool another hour.
Turn upsidedown (will be soft at this
point). Remove parchment paper and bottom of springform pan and cover second
side with confectioners' sugar (if pan resists, run a dull knife between
it and the cake). Allow to set another hour. Wrap in plastic and store
for 1 month before eating (most of the time we cannot wait and eat it the
next day).
Serves: 10-12 wedges. It is very rich so small portions are cut.
This article is partially excerpted from the book Immigrant's
Kitchen: Italian by Cassandra Vivian, Vivian Pelini Sansone, and Elizabeth
Parigi Vivian. The 320-page book featuring 260 recipes accompanied by stories
and traditions about the Italian-American way of life is available by sending
$16.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling (PA residents add 6% or $1.02 tax)
to Cassandra Vivian, 333 Manown Street, Apartment 102, Monessen PA 15062.
