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Panforte - Italian Christmas Cake

App exclusive

35 min

Dessert

10 ingredients or less

Freezer-friendly
This is not your typical cake. Panforte is a dense, chewy Italian delight loaded with nuts, dried fruits, and spices. It's a Christmas favourite that's easy to make, but be sure to line your tin well because it’s super sticky! It stays tasty for days and makes a lovely homemade gift when wrapped up nicely.

Servings

Total

35 min

Prep

15 min

Cook

20 min

Contains

Treenut symbol

tree nut

Gluten symbol

gluten

Free from

Soy symbol

soy

Peanut symbol

peanut

Sesame symbol

sesame

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What others say

PUL small logo PUL team - Jan. 18, 2025, 7:12 p.m.

🌟 RECIPE UPDATE: Based on feedback, and to improve this recipe, we added some flour and decreased the amount of sugar. We hope you enjoy the updated version! 💛 xo, Sadia (18 Jan 2025)

Binnur Cavuslu - Dec. 29, 2024, 9:05 a.m.

I really wanted to like this recipe as I’ve been to Siena and loved panforte when I tried it there. However, I don’t like it and I think it needs improvement.

While I didn’t have the issue of sugar setting, I think both the consistency and the sugar level are far off the mark.

This is way too sweet - at least for my taste. There is nothing to cut through the sweetness. The spices definitely hit the notes of panforte, so that’s right, but the sugar is too overpowering!

The consistency is also more like packed candied nuts than a firm cake as the candied fruit didn’t dissolve into what looks like a paste in the pictures.

Most Italian language recipes I found ask for the addition of water and 00 flour. I wonder if that would fix the issues.

PUL small logo PUL Team - Dec. 31, 2024, 6:25 p.m.

Hey Binnur, thanks a bunch for taking the time to share your experience with the recipe. It seems like the Christmas cake hasn't met the mark, so we'll revisit it. Thank you for helping us improve what we do 💛

Adam - Dec. 26, 2024, 8:03 p.m.

I had the same issue Dmitrii did. I suspect it could have been because I used brown sugar instead of granulated. I added like 15 minutes or so to the cook time. And maybe could have gone longer. It felt like the recipe would have benefited from adding flour for textures sake. Despite the hiccups, the flavors were absolutely on point! The candied citrus peel recipe worked really well too. Everyone enjoyed it. Thanks!

Dmitrii - Dec. 15, 2024, 1:14 p.m.

Sugar didn’t stick for some reason . It’s been rather boiling in the oven. So at the end I got a substance to eat with spoon instead of a cake 😂

PUL small logo PUL Team - Dec. 15, 2024, 6:17 p.m.

Hey Dmitrii, oh no! It sounds like the sugar didn’t have enough time to set in the oven, possibly due to the heat or the mixture being too sticky. If you find it more like a spoonable treat than a cake, you could try letting it cool a bit longer to see if it firms up, or even refrigerate it to help it solidify more.

Dmitrii - Dec. 21, 2024, 2:34 p.m.

Thanks for the tips! Going to try one more time :)