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Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
In Trentino-Alto Adige, Christmas smells like a zelten fruitcake baking in the oven. A rich, festive dessert filled with nuts and candied fruits, there is no one “true” recipe for this seasonal favorite, because every family has its own traditions and cherished ingredients.
Zelten is a festive fruitcake from Northern Italy filled with nuts and candied fruit and traditionally served during Advent. There is also no single form or look to the zelten cake, because each baker can choose to make their preferred shape, such as a heart, round or square shape and cakes can be large or small.
With the same recipe, you can choose to make one large cake or several small ones. There are also cakes that are more dense and compact with tons of candied fruits and nuts, while other cakes are lighter, with more flour and egg and less of everything else. Here is our favorite zelten recipe for you to try and of course a couple of ideas for variations to make it your own.
To make zelten for this coming Christmas season, you will need:
Prep and soak the dried fruits: Chop the figs and dates and remove seeds/pits from dates, if any. Put the chopped figs and dates as well as the raisins and candied fruit in a bowl. Add the water and grappa (or substitute). Grate the zest of half a lemon and half an orange and add to the bowl. Leave overnight or at least 2 hours to soak.
Chop and prep the nuts: Finely chop the walnuts and put them in another large bowl and add the almond slivers and pine nuts. Set aside.
Prep the oven: Preheat the oven to 170°C (75°F).
Combine the batter: In a third large bowl, use an electric beater to mix the room-temperature butter with the sugar. Add the eggs to the mixture and continue to mix. Now add the baking powder and flour and mix until you have a smooth, uniform batter.
Combine it all: Drain the dried fruit mixture and discard the liquid. Fold the nut mixture as well as the dried fruit mixture into the flour batter and mix carefully and gently with a large spoon, folding in all the ingredients until fairly uniform. Coat a 24-cm (10-inch) round baking pan with butter and flour. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top until level.
Make it pretty: Decorate the top with the whole almonds and candied cherries as desired, making flowers or other fanciful designs. Bake in the preheated oven at 170°C (75°F) for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown. Check the cake halfway through to make sure it isn’t getting too brown, you can cover the top with tinfoil if necessary. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.
Make it shiny: Heat 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of honey in a small saucepan over low heat. Once hot, use a pastry brush to apply the honey mixture to the top and sides of the cake to make it shiny. Leave to dry.
If you want to make zelten like a true Italian, you should:
Other Tyrolean desserts:
Zelten fruitcake is a great gift because it can be stored for a long period of time without spoiling, even a few weeks if kept in an airtight container or covered with saran wrap. The more alcohol that is used when making the fruitcake, the longer it will last. In some places, fruitcakes are wrapped in alcohol-soaked linens and can be stored for years.
Lots of different cultures have fruitcake of some sort. It spread all over Europe to places like Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and England and on to the new world, arriving in Chile, the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and beyond. Even India and the Philippines have their version of fruitcake.
Traditionally, zelten cakes were made during Advent, specifically on December 13th, and often prepared by the young women of the household who would then give a zelten cake to their future husband and his family as a gift.
Another tradition was to have the young women of the household make the cake on December 21st to ask Saint Thomas for fortune in love. The girls’ mother would bless the cake and put it away for the family to eat after Christmas Eve Mass.
