Panforte: Italian Christmas Cake (2024)

FAQs

What are two traditional Christmas cakes in Italy? ›

We Italians love to eat panettone and pandori at any time of day (yes, including breakfast!) Delicious on their own, both holiday cakes pair well with coffee and wine. And to give your slice an extra festive twist, pair it with whipped cream, sweet spreads, fresh fruit, and dark chocolate.

Panforte, a Christmas "fruitcake" native to Siena, Italy, is a delicious cross between candy and cake. Hazelnuts, almonds, and candied peel, mixed with flour, spices, and a rich honey-butter-sugar syrup, are baked till barely set.

Both are fruit cakes, pan pepato (or panpepato) is flavored with black pepper and chocolate, while pan forte (or panforte) is milder, with the chocolate and pepper omitted. Documentation of these fruitcakes dates back to the 1200s, and shows that this type of bread was paid to Siena monasteries as a tithe.

Panforte (pronounced pan-FOHR-tay) is a sweet pastry from Italy. It is a specialty, more precisely a Christmas fruit cake that originated in the Tuscan city of Siena and its immediate surroundings (Siena province and also Massa Marittima).

Saronno Panettone Milano, 1 kg | Costco.

While panettone is technically a type of sweet bread due to its yeast-based dough, it is commonly considered a festive dessert or cake-like treat.

If using baking parchment, peel it off and discard it; the edible rice paper can be left on. Cool completely on a wire rack, then dust generously with icing sugar, rubbing the sugar gently into the surface. Cut into wedges to serve.

The two main types of panforte are panforte Margherita, which is lighter and usually contains candied citrus, and panforte nero, which has added cocoa and spices, and which usually incorporates more dried fruits like figs and raisins.

Panforte is a traditional chewy Italian dessert containing fruit and nuts. It is similar to a florentine but much thicker and is a little like a lebkuchen. Known throughout Italy, it is an Italian Christmas tradition associated especially with the province of Siena.

Panpepato dates back to the Medieval period and it is inspired by the Tuscan panforte, from the area of Siena. Originally, it was made of bread with dried fruit added and honey and was used to celebrate during the Christmas period.

Where is the fruitcake capital of the world? ›

Claxton, Georgia: Fruitcake Capital of the World.

Panforte di Siena should be eaten at room temperature and woe on you if you add any sort of cream or sauce. It may, however, be accompanied with a glass of wine, preferably one with a complex structure and a warm sweet in-mouth sensation.

Despite its Sicilian origins, cassata has become a wildly popular dessert all across Italy and the world, often served around Easter time as part of the holiday's celebrations.

Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries.

Panettone is widely available in South America, including in Argentina, Brazil, Chile (see: pan de Pascua), Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru. It is known in Spanish as panetón or pan dulce, and as panetone in Brazilian Portuguese.

Panettone typically contains candied orange peel and raisins; traditional stollen had candied lemon peel and dried cherries as well. The extra fruit and sometimes even a layer of marzipan, plus added milk and flour, contribute to the compact shape of classic stollen versus the loftier panettone.

The main difference between pandoro and panettone lies in the shape, an eight-pointed star for the former and a cylinder with a domed top for the latter, and in their defining flavours: the pandoro is presented in all its simplicity, covered with a dusting of icing sugar, while the panettone is enriched with candied ...