PANFORTE!

This is a traditional Italian dessert resembling fruit cake, and for those that prefer something a bit more chocolaty at Christmas it is just the thing. It is an incredibly versatile recipe as you can play around with different combinations of fruit and nuts.

Ingredients
85g flour
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp dried ginger
200g dried fruit (I used 100g figs, and then a mixture of cranberries, apricots and pineapple)
250g nuts (I used 100g brazil nuts, and 150g roasted almonds, but you could use hazelnuts)
100g chocolate, coarsely chopped
zest of 1 orange
150g castor sugar
150g honey
icing sugar to dust

Method
1 Preheat the oven to 150oC bake. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
2 Sift the flour and spices into a bowl and add the fruit, nuts, chocolate and orange zest and mix to combine.
3 Place the sugar, honey, and 2 Tbsp of water in a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Continue to boil over medium heat until the mixture reaches soft ball stage (drip a small amount of the mixture into a glass of cold water. A soft ball should form.)
4 Using a wooden spoon and working quickly, pour the caramel over the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
5 Spoon out into the greased tin and bake for 15 mins. Cool and sprinkle generously with icing sugar. Store in an airtight container. Serve in small bite-sized pieces with coffee, or dessert wine.