'Tis The Season For Spice

Nothing says it's Christmas quite like the smell of a clove-studded gammon roasting in the oven. Or cinnamon-and-vanilla poached stone fruit simmering on the stove. Or a huge tray of nutmeg-spiked potatoes. Or ginger-infused caramel trifles. It all smells good

SPICED HOLIDAY PANFORTE

Serves 10

A LITTLE EFFORT

GREAT VALUE

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cooking: 40 minutes

cocoa powder 5 T, plus extra for dusting

blanched hazelnuts 300 g

flour 90 g

Woolworths preserved ginger 100 g, chopped

dried cranberries 170 g

ground cinnamon 1 t

ground ginger 2 t

ground black pepper 1½ t

ground nutmeg ½ t

dark chocolate 80 g, broken into pieces

sugar 200 g

honey ¾ cup

1 Preheat the oven to 160°C, grease a 20–25 cm cake tin with cooking spray, then dust with cocoa. 2 In a large mixing bowl, combine the cocoa powder, hazelnuts, flour, ginger, cranberries, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper and nutmeg and rub together until all the ingredients are combined. 3 Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. 4 Combine the sugar and honey and heat to 115°C on a sugar thermometer. 5 Pour the hot honey mixture over the dry ingredients, add the melted chocolate and stir well. 6 Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, then level using a rubber spatula. 7 Bake for 30–35 minutes; the panforte should be slightly soft in the centre. Cool on a wire rack. Cook’s note: If you can’t find blanched hazelnuts, you can easily remove the skins by toasting them and rubbing with a clean tea towel – the crispy skins will flake off.

WINE: Villiera Jasmine White 2018