It’s that time of year: Break out the fruitcake
The smell of wood smoke and wet leaves reminds me of the first lines of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory: “Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago”, and like Buddy and Cousin Sook, I’m thinking about fruitcake.
Not the terrible kind they make jokes about, in the gaudy tin with colored glace fruit, but the kind that is like a slice of the great Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys in late summer, heavy with fruit left to ripen on the trees. A fruitcake with dried apricots, pears, plums, figs, dates, almonds and walnuts, bound together with the thinnest of batters so that when you slice down through the dense goodness you see a collage of earthy curves and color, seeds and nuts — the fruitcake of our ancestors that was baked as a way to savor fruit mid-winter, a way to use whatever had been dried and preserved from the previous summer.
I am not a yearly fruitcake producer, and honestly have not made a fruitcake since December 2014 when my Dad helped me make these recipes for Christmas gifts and we wrote about it for this column. Then, as now, I’m looking for the genuine flavor of dried fruit and local nuts, like Randy Britt’s, and later, his daughter Chelsea’s Chico Panforte — that kind of flavor and texture that came from local apricots, almonds and honey.
I found two recipes to experiment with on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and called my Dad in for help. Together we made five California-style fruitcakes and a marvelous panforte in 2 ½ hours, and had fun trying recipes with which we were unfamiliar. The California Fruitcake recipe was from a 1960s Sunset magazine and was later adapted by Alice Medrich, of “Cocolat” fame, in her book, “Pure Desserts.”
California-Style Fruitcake
Ingredients: Makes 1 loaf.
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar, or piloncillo a Mexican pure, unrefined sugar pressed into a cone shape and grated
• 1 cup dried apricots, plums, figs, cherries, pluots, pears or peaches, or a mixture (to measure, leave apricots and similarsize fruit whole, cut larger fruit in halves or thirds)
• 2 cups moist quartered dates
• 3 cups walnut halves
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
DIRECTIONS » Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the brown sugar, all the dried fruit, the dates and nuts, and mix thoroughly with your fingers. Set aside.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla until light. Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until the fruit and nuts are coated with batter. Scrape into the prepared pan.
Bake until the top is deep golden brown and the batter clinging to the fruit seems set, about 1 hour. Tent loosely with foil if the cake is browning too much. Cool completely in the pan before unmolding. The cake keeps, wrapped
airtight in foil or plastic wrap, for several weeks at room temperature or at least 3 months in the refrigerator.
We doubled the recipe, which made five smaller fruitcakes we could bake in paper baking molds — about the right size for something this rich. The recipe was easy to put together and turned out well, with all the good qualities of fruitcake and none of the objectionable. The dried fruit is wonderful with deep flavor and combined with the crunch of Jerry Bonds’ perfect walnut halves it is altogether satisfying. Serve thin slices with a cup of tea, or sneak some onto the Christmas cookie plate for a tasty surprise. I would make it again, and maybe even send one to the president, like Sook and Buddy, who liked to imagine the president serving their fruitcake for Christmas dinner at the White House. If you decide to give the cake as a gift, be sure to tell the recipient that this is the real deal and they are very lucky indeed.
Panforte, which originated in Siena, Italy, home of the Palio horserace, is like fruitcake with better public relations. Although fruitcakes are eaten throughout Italy during the Christmas season, Panforte, a specialty of Siena, was eaten all year round. As a consequence, Siena, home of the Il Palio horse race, always has the distinctive aroma of baking Panforte from the numerous pastry shops or pasticceria. Literally translated as strong bread, the forte in this case refers to the acidity of dried fruits used in the cake, as well as the spices. Traditional Panforte has 17 ingredients to correspond to the number of neighborhoods or contrade within the city walls of Siena.
The cake dates from the 13th century when Siena was an important center for spices from Asia. Best of all, a panforte recipe is a closely guarded secret, and is never written down — each bakers’ panforte is unique.
David Lebowitz’ recipe for Panforte sounded interesting, and the unusual combination of ingredients kept us wondering what it was going to taste like? Use any kinds of nuts you like — he prefers hazelnuts and almonds, we used almonds and walnuts. To skin shelled hazelnuts, rub the still-warm toasted nuts in a tea towel to get off as much of the skin as possible. Don’t be afraid of the black pepper; this panforte is quite lively but not too hot.
Panforte
Ingredients:
• 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutchprocess or natural)
• 2 ½ cups nuts — any mix of walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts, toasted and very coarsely chopped
• ¾ cup flour
• 1 cup chopped candied citron or another candied citrus
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of grated nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• 3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup honey
• extra cocoa, for dusting the pan
• powdered sugar, for dusting the panforte
• springform pan, 9- to 10-inches
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line the bottom of a 9- to 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Spray the pan with nonstick spray and dust the inside with cocoa powder, making sure to get it up the sides.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, nuts, flour, candied citrus, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, nutmeg and red chili powder.
4. Melt the chocolate in a small bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir it into the nut mixture.
5. In a pan fitted with a candy thermometer, heat the sugar and honey until the temperature reads 240 degrees.
6. Pour the hot honey syrup over the nut mixture and stir well. This step is strenuous! Do a few wall push-ups to prepare! Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. I start by using a spatula and as the mixture cools, once it’s cool enough to touch, I use a dampened hand to get it flat.
7. Bake the panforte for 35 to 40 minutes; the center will feel soft, like just-baked custard; if you touch it, your finger will come away clean when it’s done. Do not overcook it, or it will be too firm once cooled. Let the panforte cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen it from the pan. Remove the springform carefully sticky edges might tear, so keep an eye out, then let cool completely.
Once cool, remove the bottom of the springform pan and peel away the parchment paper. Sprinkle the panforte with powdered sugar and rub it in with your hands. This is a great and interesting flavor — tangy, peppery, citrusy, not too sweet with cocoa undertones and liptingling zest.
Panforte can be kept for several months, well wrapped, at room temperature. Panforte is eaten in thin slices, or wedges — it goes well with red wine, sweet wine, Amaro, espresso or tea and pairs beautifully with fine cheeses and charcuterie trays. Serve it as a healthy snack, or after dinner with a good port or dessert wine. It is ideal served with triple cream cheeses like Brillat Savarin, Delice de Bourgogne or Mt. Tam and fresh goat cheeses like North Valley Chevre, Chevre d’Or or Bucherondin.
Two weeks until Christmas Eve — don your aprons and make something incredible!
In tribute to my Dad, Jerry Bonds of farmers market fame, Randy Britt’s Panforte, and Rob Greene, a fellow fruitcake lover.