Spongata di Natale – Italian Christmas cake

Spongata di Natale is a round, flat, Italian Christmas cake with a thin, crunchy pastry coating, not dissimilar to a British mince pie. The sweet, sticky filling is deeply spiced and packed with nuts, honey and dried fruit. It is a speciality of the Emilia Romagna region, made in the cities and provinces that surround Parma, which is exactly where I first came across it – in the charming village of Calestano, a couple of hours south-west of the city. The earliest written recording of spongata was in 1454, though no doubt its history extends well beyond that. Every family has its own closely guarded recipe and this version is no exception. Local housewife/chef Adriana Salsi was kind enough to share hers with me, top-secret until now.

It is traditional to make many, many spongata and give them as gifts to friends and family, so this recipe makes fifteen cakes – but you can reduce the amounts as desired if you’re not quite ready for that commitment! This year Adriana made forty-six, but Silvana Ghillani, another remarkable woman I met in the Emilia Romagna region, told me her record was 200! If given as a gift, wrap the spongata in tinfoil to transport it. Otherwise they can be kept for a very long time at room temperature, covered with a cloth – up to two months. They can also be frozen, well wrapped, and stored for up to a year.

This recipe calls for citron, or cedro as it is also called, a beautifully fragrant citrus fruit that grows in the south of Italy. Strikingly yellow, it looks like a huge, lumpy lemon and is highly prized for its thick, sweet, tender rind, which unlike other citrus fruits is only very slightly bitter. In this recipe the fruit is used in candied form, which is also the easiest kind to find here in the UK. The nutty filling is sweetened with honey, and acacia honey is particularly well suited to this recipe – mild, delicate and floral, it has a uniquely fluid texture leaving the filling glossy and pleasingly chewy.

Typically eaten together with an espresso or two, it is also excellent with a fruity, aromatic dessert wine or lightly sweet sparkling white wine. Well it is Christmas.

Header image courtesy of John Holdship.