Peruvian Panetón - Christmas Fruit Cake Dessert
Panetón is a Peruvian cake-bread dessert traditionally eaten at Christmas time in Peru. It's sweet, packed with candied fruit, and uses easy-to-find ingredients.
- Prep time
- 12 hr
- Cook time
- 35 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 cup wheat flour (110 g.)
- 1 cup water (240 ml)
- 12 g. yeast
- Include preferment
- ¾ cup wheat flour (85 g.)
- ¼ cup butter (60 g.)
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup sugar (45 g.)
- Include whole dough 2
- 2 ½ cups wheat flour (275 g.)
- ⅓ cup butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 small eggs (or 1 large one)
- 3 tablespoons honey
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup candied oranges
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup white rum
- 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
- 2 tablespoons oil (to apply to hands and table)
Instructions
- 1
The night before, place the raisins, candied fruit (oranges), and white rum in a glass jar. Mix it well, and leave to rest. If possible, mix from time to time so that all the fruits are properly hydrated.
- 2
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients of “dough 1” or pre-ferment: wheat flour, water and yeast.
- 3
Stir with a hand mixer until no lumps remain. Then, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for two to three hours. It will triple in size.
- 4
Then, uncover “dough 1”, stir with a hand mixer, so that it loses the bubbles.
- 5
Stir in ¾ cup of flour; Stir vigorously until smooth.
- 6
Then add the butter, eggs, and sugar. Continue stirring vigorously with the hand mixer, until the lumps of the butter disappear.
- 7
Then cover again with plastic wrap, and let the mixture rest for about 6 hours. This mass should rise little by little.
- 8
After six hours, uncover, and stir a little to remove the foam.
- 9
Pour into the mixer, and add the other ingredients: wheat flour, sugar, eggs, honey, butter, and vanilla. Beat for about ten minutes, let the dough rest for ten minutes, and repeat this cycle three times. If you don't have a mixer, first mix with a kitchen spatula.
- 10
Finally, add the grated lemon rind, raisin mixture, candied orange rind, and rum. Stir a little until the dried fruits are properly integrated.
- 11
Apply a little oil on your hands and on the table where you will knead. Place the dough on the table. With the help of a spatula, form into a ball and place it inside the mold. Fill to the middle of the mold, as shown in the photo.
- 12
Let the dough rise for two more hours, until it reaches the edge of the pan, as shown in the photo. With great care, take the mold to the oven. Cook with only bottom heat, at 100 °C for about an hour until you see that nice golden color. Remove from the oven and leave hanging for at least six hours, so it doesn't flatten. The easiest thing is to put two skewer sticks through it, turn it upside down, and support the skewer sticks on two parallel surfaces (I usually put it between two chairs).