Zelten is a delicious holiday treat (or “treats,” more on that later) from the northern Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige. It’s essentially a fruitcake, full of a ton of Christmas flavors: figs, candied fruit, nuts, spices, grappa, honey, and more. Like a lot of traditional fruitcake recipes, they are ideally suited to last throughout the holiday season due to their naturally long shelf life.
There are actually two distinct styles of Zelten. The first resembles a traditional fruitcake (albeit perhaps a little less dense and boozy) while the other is technically a bread, but with such a small amount of dough that the end result is more like a candy bar, but mostly sweetened naturally by the figs, candied fruit, etc. Here we will share both recipes, beginning with the “fruitcake” version.
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ZELTEN FRUITCAKE RECIPE
Makes: 1 cake, serves 8 to 10
Cook Time: About an hour, plus some prep the day before
For the filling, you will need:
5.25 ounces (150 g) dried figs, chopped
1.75 ounces (50 g) pitted dates, chopped
¾ cup (150 g) candied fruit, chopped
⅔ cup (100 g) raisins
1 ½ cups (150 g) walnuts, chopped
⅓ cup (50 g) peeled almonds, chopped
⅓ cup (50 g) hazelnuts, chopped
⅓ cup (50 g) pine nuts
½ lemon zest, grated
½ orange zest, grated
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
½ teaspoon ground cloves, or to taste
½ teaspoon allspice, or to taste
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, or to taste
7 tablespoons (100 ml) grappa or spiced rum
For the cake batter, you will need
10 tablespoons (150 g) butter, room temperature
½ cup (100 g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cups (150 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (50 g) rye flour
2 ½ teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
A pinch of salt
For decorating and topping the cake, you will need:
Whole candied cherries for topping
Pine nuts for topping
3 tablespoons (65 g) honey
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients and stir together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature overnight.
The following day, combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. With a hand mixer, whip the butter until the sugar is completely incorporated and the texture is soft and creamy. Add the two eggs and continue to mix until they are well incorporated.
Using a fine mesh sieve, sift both flours and the baking powder into the butter mixture. Add a pinch of salt and mix with the hand mixer until all of the ingredients are evenly mixed into a very soft dough.
Add all of the filling ingredients into the dough and stir all together until the nuts, figs, etc. are evenly distributed.
Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C) and line a 9 or 10-inch (23-25 cm) round cake pan with parchment paper. A springform pan is helpful but a normal round pan will work fine, provided it is at least 2 ½ inches (6.5 cm) tall. To line it with parchment paper, wet the paper in the sink first and then squeeze out the excess water. The damp paper will be much easier to work with.
Evenly spread the fruitcake batter into the pan. Decorate the top with candied cherries and pine nuts. A common pattern used in Trentino-Alto Adige is to place several cherries on top and use the pine nuts as “petals” to form flowers.
Bake the cake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is browned. When the cake is almost done baking, combine the honey and 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of water in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the honey completely dissolves.
While the cake and the honey syrup are still warm, brush the latter on top of the Zelten. Let the cake cool to room temperature, ideally overnight, before removing from the pan and serving. The cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature for up to two weeks.
ZELTEN “BREAD” RECIPE
Makes: 4 small cakes
Cook Time:
For the filling, you will need:
3 ½ tablespoons (70 g) honey
3 ½ tablespoons (50 ml) white wine
17.5 ounces (500 g) dried figs, chopped
2 cups (400 g) raisins
½ cup (120 g) candied fruit, chopped
1 cup (120 g) pine nuts
¾ cup (120 g) peeled almonds, chopped
¾ cup (120 g) walnuts, chopped
¾ cup (120 g) hazelnuts, chopped
2 teaspoons cinnamon, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground anise, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste
½ teaspoon ground cloves, or to taste
½ teaspoon allspice, or to taste
½ teaspoon nutmeg, or to taste
½ lemon zest, grated
½ orange zest, grated
½ cup (120 ml) grappa or spiced rum
For the dough, you will need:
1 ¼ cups (150 g) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (100 g) rye flour
1 teaspoon ground anise
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for greasing
1 tablespoon (20 g) honey
2 ¼ teaspoons (7 g) active dry yeast
⅔ cup (150 ml) water, or as needed
A pinch of salt
For decorating and topping the cake, you will need:
Whole candied cherries for topping
Pine nuts for topping
1 tablespoon (12 g) sugar
1 tablespoon (21 g) honey
In a cup or bowl, stir the honey into the white wine until the honey completely dissolves. Combine the rest of the filling ingredients into a large mixing bowl and pour the honey/wine mixture on top. Stir all together, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature overnight.
The following day, combine the flours, anise, cumin, olive oil, honey and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Roughly mix the ingredients together with a fork, then begin gradually adding the water while continuing to mix. When about half of the water has been mixed in, add the salt and continue to mix.
Keep adding water and mix by hand until a sticky dough forms. Transfer the dough onto a clean work surface and continue to knead by hand for a few minutes, or until evenly mixed. A bench scraper can be useful when working with a sticky dough as it will help you to scrape it off the work surface.
Rub a little olive oil on the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl and place the dough back in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it roughly doubles in size—about one hour.
When the dough has risen, place it on top of the filling ingredients you prepared the day before. With your hands, mix the dough into the nuts, figs, etc. Do so at first in the bowl, but feel free to transfer it to a work surface when convenient to knead them all together.
When the filling and dough are evenly mixed (the former will basically absorb the latter), cut the mixture into four equal portions. Each portion will make one small cake. Flatten each until it is about 2 inches (5 cm) tall. They can be simply made round, or formed into any shape you like (heart, star, Christmas tree, etc.). Arrange the cakes on parchment paper-lined baking sheets (you will probably need two trays to fit them all) and let them rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325° F (165° C).
While the cakes rest, you can decorate the tops with candied cherries and pine nuts, then top them with syrup. To make the syrup, combine 1 tbsp. (12 g) sugar, 1 tbsp. (21 g) honey, and 4 tsp. (20 ml) water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the honey and sugar dissolve completely, then brush the syrup on top of the cakes.
Bake the cakes one tray at a time for 35 minutes. Let the Zelten cool completely, ideally overnight, before serving. They can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Buon appetito!