This Italian fruit cake recipe is faithful to its Tuscan roots! Panforte Margherita is a Tuscan Christmas dessert that dates back to the late middle ages and is popular during the holiday season in Italy.
This Italian Christmas dessert has many variations— including variations with chocolate! In the video recipe below, we demonstrate how to make Panforte Margherita— named after Queen Margherita in the late 1800’s for her visit to the Tuscan city of Siena. This variation does not have chocolate.
With whole almonds, candied orange and candied citron, this is probably the most popular Italian fruitcake. The name means ‘strong bread’ in Italian and comes from the warm spices that give this classic Italian dessert its kick. Those spices include cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and even juniper— if you can find it. A super EASY dessert to help you make Christmas Italian! Love Italian Pasta? Our pasta cookbook is a great gift choice for the Italian food lover in your family:
While tripe isn’t for everyone, this is the definitive Italian Tripe recipe for anyone who likes beef tripe. The sauce—with tomato, mint, white wine and pecorino cheese—is divine.
This recipe uses beef tripe parts from all three edible stomachs of the cow. Preparing tripe is not complicated—the complicated part may be finding it at a local butcher!
Tripe is extremely nutritious! It is low in fat and high in protein. In ancient times, it was a main source of nutrition for poor Italians who couldn’t afford choicer cuts of meat.
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Learn how to make Italian Tripe recipe with our video recipe, filmed in Italy:
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How to Make Italian Tripe
For the complete recipe for making Roman Tripe, check out the recipe card below!
What is Tripe?
Tripe is the edible stomachs of the cow. There are three, each with a different texture.
Boil it for 15 minutes.
Even if the tripe you’ve purchased is already clean, we recommend boiling it in salt water with onion, carrot and celery for 15 minutes to remove any lingering odor.
Serve with bread!
Italian Tripe is traditionally served with bread for a fantastic scarpetta (sopping up the sauce).
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Tomato Products We Recommend
This tripe recipe calls for crushed tomatoes. In Italy, Italians have a secret for crushed tomatoes: they use or buy whole peeled tomatoes, remove the seeds and ‘water’ and then crush them with a blender or by hand. Why not just buy crushed tomatoes?
Italians know that canned crushed tomatoes tend to be less sweet than passata (purée) or whole peeled canned tomatoes. This is because skins and seeds often make their way into crushed tomato products, which produces a less sweet product.
For dishes like Roman Style Tripe (Trippa alla Romana), here in the PIATTO™ kitchen we tend to use:
To find out more about why, check out our guide on best canned tomatoes for sauce!
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Other Italian Tripe Recipes
Check out the traditional recipe for Trippa alla Fiorentina (Florence Style Tripe) on our website!
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Italian Tripe Recipe – Trippa alla Romana
Ingredients
- 2.2 lb beef tripe cleaned
- 1 onion for pre-cooking the tripe
- 1 carrot for pre-cooking the tripe
- 1 rib celery for pre-cooking the tripe
- 1 onion chopped
- ½ carrot chopped
- 1 rib celery chopped
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- handful fresh mint minced
- 4 tbsp pecorino romano cheese finely grated
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 4 tbsp olive oil or as needed
- fresh chili peppers to taste
- fine salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Pre-Cook the Tripe
- Boil the tripe for 15 minutes in salted water with a whole onion, carrot and celery to remove the last of the odor. Drain and set aside.
Sauté the Tripe
- Coat the bottom of a skillet generously with olive oil. Sauté the chopped onion, carrot and celery over medium-low heat until the onions start to appear translucent.
- Add the tripe to the vegetables and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat.
- Add a ½ cup of white wine. Stir, and cook until the wine has evaporated.
Make the Sauce
- Add crushed tomato and a 1 1/2 cups of water to the tripe.
- Bring the sauce to a boil. Add a handful of fresh mint and a pinch of salt.
- Cover and cook the tripe in the sauce over medium-low heat for 2 hours.
Finish with Pecorino Cheese
- After the two hours, turn off the heat and add about 4 Tbs of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Stir to melt the cheese. Feel free to top with more pecorino when you serve the dish.
Video
Nutrition
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Learn how to make this Panforte recipe with our video, filmed in Italy:
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How to Make Panforte Italian Fruitcake
The final Panforte Fruit Cake will be short (1 inch or less). It will be dense and chewy! Knowing these characteristics will help you know your mixture is on the right track 🙂
Follow the recipe for making Panforte at the bottom of this page. Here are the highlights:
Toast the Almonds
To make Panforte, we start by toasting the almonds. Toast them in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 5-7 minutes or until fragrant.
Chop the Candied Orange and Citron
Chop the candied orange and citron, if they aren’t already!
Citron is one of four original citrus fruits. It is an ancestor of the lemon and is still quite popular in Italian desserts. Unlike lemon, the citron fruit has very little juice. So, the rind is used (and candied) instead.
Sicily is a major producer of citron, so it’s not surprising that it’s a popular ingredient in desserts of that region!
The Spices!
Combine the nuts, flour, candied fruit and… spices! Spices in Panforte Italian Fruit Cake recipes usually include: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, coriander, powdered ginger, and juniper!
Rice Paper?
This dessert is rather sticky when finished. For this reason, it is traditionally prepared on edible rice paper which allows the fruit cake to be more easily served. You can simply line a springform pan with the edible rice paper.
Pan Size
To have a final Panforte of the right height, you’ll need to use a round cake pan of about 8 inches (20 cm) for this recipe. A spring form pan works best!
Butter and flour the sides of the pan to make removing this dense, chewy dessert easier 🙂
Make the Syrup!
The key to binding all of these dry fruits and nuts together is to make a lovely syrup!
In a saucepan, combine water or wine with honey and powdered sugar! We prefer to use a Tuscan Vin Santo wine. And yes, you read that right: powdered sugar! This is not a traditional syrup. Instead we want the thickener that powdered sugar (which includes corn starch) brings to the recipe.
Simply cook the syrup ingredients over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then, pour the hot syrup into the dry ingredients and everything mix thoroughly! Use a sturdy spoon or spatula because the mix stiffens quickly. Here’s how the mixture will look:
Bake the Panforte Fruit Cake
Spread the mixture into the cake pan evenly. Dip a spoon in water to prevent the mix from sticking to the spoon as you spread it in the pan.
Bake the cake in a preheated 300°F (150°C) oven for 30 minutes.
How do you know when the Panforte is ready? The edges will begin to bubble slightly. Take the Panforte out of the oven at this point and use a wet spoon to push down those bubbly edges! Let it rest just a few minutes and then remove it from the cake pan while it is still warm. Cool before serving.
Powdered Sugar
Top the cooled cake with powdered sugar!
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Panforte Italian Fruit Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 1 springform pan 8-9 inches( 20 cm) in diameter
- 1 saucepan
- 1 large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 11 oz almonds raw with skins
- 4 oz candied orange
- 4 oz candied citron
- 1 cup flour
- 5 oz honey
- 5 oz powdered sugar plus more for topping the Panforte!
- 2 tbsp water or sweet wine Vin Santo, for example
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp coriander
- ¼ tsp powdered ginger
- ¼ tsp juniper
- rice paper for the base
Instructions
Prepare the Ingredients
- Place the almonds in one layer on a baking sheet. Toast the almonds in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 5-7 minutes. Toast just until fragrant. Then, set them aside to cool.11 oz almonds
- Chop the candied orange and citron.4 oz candied orange, 4 oz candied citron
Combine the Dry Ingredients
- Combine all of the following in a large mixing bowl: flour, cooled toasted almonds, the spices and the chopped candied orange and citron. Set the dry ingredients aside.1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp cloves, ¼ tsp coriander, ¼ tsp powdered ginger, ¼ tsp juniper, 1 cup flour
Prepare the Cake Pan
- Line the bottom of a springform cake pan with edible rice paper. Butter and flour the sides of the cake pan. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).rice paper
Prepare the Syrup
- Combine the wine (or water), honey and powdered sugar in a small saucepan. Cook the ingredients over low heat until the powdered sugar is thoroughly dissolved. The syrup will bubble.5 oz honey, 5 oz powdered sugar, 2 tbsp water or sweet wine
Add the Syrup to the Dry Mix
- Immediately pour the hot syrup into the dry mixture and mix everything together quickly! Use a large stiff spoon or spatula, dipped in water. This will help prevent it sticking as you mix the ingredients.
Transfer and Bake!
- Transfer the sticky mixture to the springform pan. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or just until the edges become to bubble.
- Remove the cake from the oven. Using the back of wet spoon or spatula, press down the edges of the cake so that it is even with the rest. Let the cake cool a couple of minutes, then remove it still warm from the springform pan.
- Cool the cake. Then, top the cooled cake generously with powdered sugar. Buon appetito!
Video
🇬🇧 This is the English-language version of our original Italian recipe on PIATTO Ricette.
This is the real deal! Had it in Siena last year.
“Davvero fantastico 😉 da provare subito 😍”
“Grazie mille! Saluti dal Brasile 🇧🇷 !”
“Una delle versioni più belle”
“Manca solo di sentirne il profumo gli occhi si sono deliziati 😀 ottimo per le feste buono tutto l’anno 👏👏👏👏”
“Bellissimo”