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Panforte

Gino D'Acampo from Good Food Bites
For an indulgent treat try Gino D'Acampo's sophisticated, chocolate coated version of a traditional Italian festive cake

Panforte

Method

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Mix in the orange peel, ground almonds, crushed walnuts and icing sugar.

3. Gently mix in the melted chocolate.

4. Pour the panforte mixture into a shallow round dish, lined with cling film. Set aside to rest and set for 2 hours.

5. While the panforte is resting make the chocolate-covered orange peel. Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water.

6. Peel the oranges, cutting off long strips of orange peel at least 2cm wide.

7. Place the sugar and water in a pan. Squeeze in the juice of the four oranges and bring to the boil.

8. Add the orange peel strips and simmer gently for 10 minutes over a very low heat. Drain and cool the peel strips on a wire rack over a plate.

9. Mix the orange syrup used to cook the peel into the melted chocolate. Dip the orange peel strips into the chocolate and set aside to cool and set.

10. To make the icing, melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, gently heat together the icing sugar and water. Once the icing sugar has melted stir the mixture into the melted chocolate.

11. Turn out the cake upside-down onto a plate and peel off the cling film. Pour the icing over the cake and decorate with strips of chocolate-covered orange peel.