More holiday baking…this time from Sienna, Italy.  Panforte is a fruitcake made mainly in the Sienna area of Italy.  It’s made of mainly nuts and candied fruits such as candied citron and lemon/orange peel.  Unlike traditional fruitcakes we have in U.S., this cake is complex with fruits, toasted nuts, black pepper, chili powder, and cocoa powder.  It’s moist on the inside but has a hardened, crusty exterior.  Surprisingly, this cake is pretty easy to make and the ingredients are fairly easy to find.  The only challenge might be a spring form pan as you will definitely need one for this recipe.  If you don’t have one, perhaps it’s worth the investment as you can make a lot of different things with spring form pans.  You can find a rather inexpensive spring form pan at Michael’s (Whilton brand).  At any rate, I used David Lebovitz’s recipe.  Like most of David Lebovitz’s recipes, it doesn’t disappoint.  In fact, I love his blog and his cookbooks!

P.S. as an extra bonus with this cake, you don’t have to refrigerate it.  Rather, since it contains neither dairy nor eggs, it can sit on the counter, covered (I use wax paper) for several months without spoiling!