Zelten · Zelten Trentino
Trentino-Alto Adige · dolce · serves 12 · 360 min total · medium
The Christmas cake of Trentino — the name is from German selten ("rare"), originally baked only at the end of Advent. Each valley has its own version: the Trentino-style is loaf-like and rich; the Alto Adige version (Bozen) is wider and flatter with fewer flours. Wrapped and given as a Christmas gift across the village; the Trentini say a zelten that isn't shared loses its luck.
Ingredients
- 250 g 00 flour
- 100 g rye flour
- 120 g butter
- 120 g sugar
- 2 eggs eggs
- 8 g baking powder
- 120 ml warm milk
- 60 g mountain honey
- 200 g dried figs, chopped
- 120 g dried prunes, chopped
- 150 g sultanas, soaked in grappa
- 150 g walnut halves
- 100 g whole blanched almonds
- 40 g pine nuts
- 80 g candied orange and citron, diced
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 0.5 tsp ground cloves
- 80 ml grappa
- 1 lemon lemon zest
Method
- Soak the chopped figs and prunes overnight in 60 ml of the grappa with 100 ml warm water. Drain, reserving the liquid.
- Cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the honey.
- Sift the two flours with baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest. Fold into the butter mixture alternately with the warm milk and the reserved soaking liquid.
- Fold in all the dried fruits, drained sultanas, walnut halves, chopped almonds, pine nuts, candied fruit. The batter should be heavy — more fruit than dough.
- Line a 24 cm round tin with parchment. Spread the batter in, smooth flat.
- Decorate the top in the Trentino style: lay walnut halves and whole almonds in concentric circles, with a candied cherry in the centre.
- Bake at 160°C (320°F) for 55–65 minutes — a skewer should come out clean. Cover with foil if the top browns too fast.
- Cool fully. Brush all over with the remaining grappa.
- Wrap in baking paper and rest at least 3 days before cutting. The zelten ripens to almost-fruitcake density.
- Cut very thin slices. Keeps a month in a tin.