Italian Sicilian Fig and Almond Ring Cake | Buccellato Siciliano ai Fichi e Mandorle
Updated: Oct 24
The buccellato is the centrepiece of a Palermo Christmas: a large crown of pasta frolla filled the whole way round with a dark spiced paste of dried figs, almonds and candied fruit, closed into a ring, scored across the top and glazed white. It is cut in slices like a cake, and every slice shows the same dark filling inside a thin pale casing.
It is engineering as much as baking. A ring ten inches across has to hold a heavy, sticky filling through forty five minutes in the oven without collapsing, splitting or leaking at the join. The pastry has to be strong enough to carry it and short enough to eat, the filling soft enough to spread yet stable enough not to boil out through the cuts.
Below is the Palermo version with the proportions that make the ring hold: a firm frolla high in egg, a filling ground twice to a spreadable paste, a proper overlap at the join and cuts that go through the top layer only.
Yield: 1 ring of 10 inches (25 cm), 12 slices. Prep: 1 hour. Rest: 2 hours. Bake: 45 minutes. Total: about 4 hours 30 minutes, plus 2 days of maturing. Difficulty: intermediate to advanced. Course: dessert and Christmas baking. Region: Sicily, Palermo and the western provinces.
The Story
In Palermo dialect the cake is the cucciddatu, and the Italian name buccellato goes back to the Latin buccellatum, the ring shaped bread baked hard and issued to Roman soldiers. The shape survived the bread. By the time the Sicilian pastry took its present form, in the convents and the aristocratic kitchens of the city, the ring had become a gift object: made in quantity through December, carried from house to house, handed to godparents and to the priest, and cut open only on Christmas Day. Bakeries across Palermo still stack them in the window from late November, the largest a good two feet across.
The buccellato of Lucca shares the name and nothing else, being a plain sweet bread with aniseed and raisins. The Sicilian one belongs to the Arab and Norman line of Palermo pastry, the same line as the cassata, and the filling shows it. Candied squash, the zuccata that Palermo convents made from long white cucuzza melon, sits alongside dried figs from the inland hills, almonds from the west of the island, pistachio from Bronte and a splash of Marsala. The scoring and the white icing came later, in the nineteenth century, when confectioners began decorating the crown to signal whose bakery it came from.
Ingredients
For the pasta frolla
All purpose flour, 4 cups (500 g)
Granulated sugar, 3/4 cup (150 g)
Unsalted butter, cold and cubed, 10 tbsp (140 g)
Lard, 1/4 cup (55 g), traditional, or the same weight in butter
Whole eggs, 2 large
Egg yolk, 1 large
Whole milk, 1/4 cup (60 ml), plus a little more if needed
Baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp (6 g)
Finely grated lemon zest, from 1 lemon
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
For the fig and almond filling
Sicilian dried figs, stems removed, 1 lb 2 oz (500 g)
Blanched almonds, toasted, 5 1/4 oz (150 g)
Shelled pistachios, preferably Bronte, 2 oz (60 g)
Raisins, 3 1/2 oz (100 g)
Candied squash, zuccata, or candied citron, 3 1/2 oz (100 g)
Candied orange peel, 2 oz (60 g)
Dark chocolate at 70 percent, chopped, 2 1/2 oz (70 g)
Dark honey, 1/4 cup (85 g)
Marsala, dry or semisecco, 1/3 cup (80 ml)
Ground cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp (4 g)
Ground cloves, 1/4 tsp (0.6 g)
Finely grated orange zest, from 1 orange
Freshly ground black pepper, 1/8 tsp
For the glaze and decoration
Powdered sugar, 1 1/2 cups (180 g)
Egg white, 1 large, or lemon juice, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Candied cherries and candied orange slices, 3 1/2 oz (100 g) in total
Chopped pistachios, 2 tbsp (20 g)
Coloured sugar sprinkles, diavolicchi, 1 tbsp, optional and traditional
Preparation
Grind the filling to a paste
Stem the figs, cover them with warm Marsala thinned with a little warm water and soak 30 minutes, then drain and reserve the liquid. Pass the figs, raisins, candied squash and candied orange twice through the fine plate of a meat grinder. Unlike a filled cookie, a ring this size needs a paste that spreads cleanly along a band of dough, so the second pass is not optional: a coarse filling leaves air pockets that become splits in the oven.
Season and rest it
Work in the honey, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, black pepper and the reserved soaking liquid, then fold in the toasted almonds, pistachios and chocolate, all chopped but not ground, so the paste keeps some bite against the smoothness. Cover and rest 1 hour at room temperature. It should spread like a firm jam and hold a ridge when you draw a spatula through it. Loosen with Marsala by the teaspoon, tighten with ground almond.
Make the frolla
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest, rub in the cold butter and lard to a coarse meal, then add the eggs, the yolk and the milk. Bring it together quickly and stop the moment it is homogeneous. This dough is deliberately firmer and higher in egg than a tart pastry, because it has to carry a heavy filling in a free standing ring. Wrap it and refrigerate 1 hour.
Roll the band
Roll the whole quantity of pastry on parchment into one long rectangle about 26 by 8 inches (65 by 20 cm) and a scant 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick, trimming the edges square with a wheel so the band closes evenly later. Rolling directly onto parchment matters: a band this long tears if you lift it off the counter, and the parchment carries it to the tray without stretching.
Fill and close the log
Spread the filling in an even strip along the length of the band, slightly off centre, leaving a clear inch (2.5 cm) at one long edge and half that at the other. Brush the clear edges with water, lift the near side over the filling using the parchment, then roll it so the wide edge overlaps the narrow one underneath. Press the seam along its full length and roll the log gently so it finishes seam down and even in diameter.
Form and seal the ring
Transfer the log on its parchment to a sheet tray and curve it into a ring, bringing the two ends together. Cut both ends on a slight diagonal, overlap them by about an inch and press the join firmly, smoothing the outside with a wet fingertip so no seam shows. The join is the weakest point of the whole cake. Rest the shaped ring in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, uncovered.
Score the crown and bake
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Brush the ring with beaten egg and make diagonal cuts across the top at intervals of about an inch, angled and shallow, going through the top layer of pastry only. They let steam escape and they are what makes a buccellato recognisable. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until the pastry is a light even gold and firm at the join. Rotate the tray once at the halfway point.
Cool, then glaze and decorate
Leave the ring on the tray 15 minutes, then slide it onto a rack and cool completely, about 2 hours. Beat the powdered sugar with the egg white or lemon juice to a thick, slowly falling glaze and spoon it over the crown so it runs a little down the sides without covering them. Set the candied cherries and orange slices into the wet glaze, scatter pistachios and sprinkles, and let it set 1 hour.
Plating
The buccellato is presented whole and cut at the table, which is half the point of making a ring rather than individual pastries. Set it on a flat wooden board or a large white platter with nothing under it and nothing around it. Slice across the ring with a long serrated knife in a single drawing motion, into pieces about an inch and a half wide, so the dark filling shows on every cut face.
Serve two slices per person, standing them on the cut face rather than flat so the filling stays visible, at room temperature and never chilled. For a restaurant presentation, one slice on a small plate with a spoonful of lightly sweetened sheep milk ricotta and a few toasted almonds is enough. Do not add sauce or fruit compote: the filling already contains four kinds of preserved fruit.
Professional Technique
The whole cake stands or falls on the join, and on closing the ring with an overlapping diagonal rather than a butt joint. Two ends pressed face to face have almost no mechanical strength and separate as soon as the pastry softens, leaving a gap and a slow leak onto the tray. Cut both ends at an angle instead, overlap them by an inch and press: the surfaces bond over a large area and the weight of the ring holds them together rather than pulling them apart.
The second technique is the scoring, which is structural and not decorative. A sealed ring holding a wet filling builds steam pressure that has to leave somewhere. Cuts through the top layer only, angled at about forty five degrees and an inch apart, vent it in a controlled pattern across the crown. Cut too deep and the figs boil out and burn. Leave the ring unscored and it splits once, unpredictably, where the pastry happens to be thinnest.
Texture and Moisture Control
This cake is a moisture exchange that runs for three days after it leaves the oven. Out of the oven the pastry is crisp and the filling hot and loose. Over the first 48 hours the filling releases water into the casing and the whole thing softens into what a buccellato is supposed to be: a tender, faintly chewy shell around a dense moist centre that holds together when sliced. Cut it the day it is baked and it crumbles and tastes dry, which is why Palermo bakes it weeks in advance.
Getting there depends on the filling consistency going in. A paste that holds a ridge under a spatula carries enough water for the exchange and not enough to steam the pastry apart. Too wet and the base goes soggy and the cuts weep; too dry and the filling sets into a block that pulls away from the casing and leaves a hollow ring. Glaze only when the cake is stone cold, since icing over residual warmth dissolves into a translucent film that never sets white.
Professional Mise en Place
One large ring means one shaping run with no chance to stop halfway, so the bench has to be clear and everything has to be within reach before the pastry comes out of the refrigerator.
Equipment and tools
Meat grinder with a fine plate, run twice, or a robust food processor used in short pulses
Long rolling pin, pastry wheel and a ruler for squaring the band
Large sheet tray and a roll of parchment wide enough for the full band
Small sharp paring knife for the scoring, kept wiped between cuts
Offset spatula for the filling and for the glaze, plus a cooling rack
Prepared ahead
Filling, up to 1 week ahead, refrigerated in a sealed container, brought to room temperature before spreading
Pasta frolla, up to 2 days ahead, wrapped and refrigerated, or 1 month frozen
Candied fruit cut into decoration pieces and kept on a covered tray
The whole baked ring, made 2 or 3 days ahead unglazed, which improves it
Service setup
Oven confirmed at 350°F (175°C), rack in the middle position
Parchment cut to the length of the band before rolling begins
Water bowl and brush at the bench for sealing the seam and the join
Glaze mixed only when the cake is completely cold, kept covered so it does not skin
Long serrated knife and a board for service, the cake never refrigerated before cutting
Chef Tips
Bake it two days before you need it and glaze it on the day of serving. An unglazed ring keeps wrapped in parchment and then in foil, and those two days of resting are what turn a good buccellato into the real thing. It is the rare cake that is genuinely worse fresh.
Look for real zuccata. The candied cucuzza melon Palermo uses is translucent, mild and slightly floral, and gives the filling a gentle sweetness candied citron does not. Failing that, citron is the correct substitute. What does not work is candied pineapple or glacé cherries in the filling, which taste of syrup and nothing else.
Weigh the filling and the pastry the first time and keep those numbers. The ratio matters more than any single measurement, and the figs you buy next December will behave differently. Roughly 1 lb 12 oz (800 g) of filling to 2 lb 2 oz (950 g) of pastry holds a ring of this diameter.
If the band tears while you lift it, do not patch it with a scrap. Press the tear closed with wet fingers, chill the band 10 minutes and continue. A patch is a cold joint that opens in the oven exactly as an end join does, and by then it is inside a sealed ring where you cannot reach it.
Common Mistakes
Butting the two ends together. Pressed face to face the ends have almost no contact area and separate within ten minutes of baking. Cut both on a diagonal, overlap them by a full inch and press firmly, then smooth the outside with a wet finger.
Scoring too deep. Cuts that reach the filling let the figs boil out, burn on the tray and leave the crown collapsed. The knife should pass through the top layer of pastry only, angled, wiped clean between cuts.
Spreading the filling to the edges. Filling at the sealing edge stops the pastry bonding and guarantees a leak along the seam. Leave a clear inch on the wide edge and half that on the narrow one, and brush both with water before closing.
Rolling the pastry too thin. Below about 1/4 inch (5 mm), the casing cannot carry the weight of the filling and the ring sags and splits along its outer curve. This is not a delicate tart shell: the frolla here is structural.
Glazing a warm cake. Sugar glaze applied over residual heat dissolves into a thin translucent varnish that never sets opaque, and the decorations slide. Wait the full 2 hours of cooling.
Cutting it the day it is baked. Filling and casing have not exchanged moisture yet, so the pastry is dry and crumbles under the knife. Wrap the unglazed ring and leave it 2 days at cool room temperature before slicing.
Wine Pairing
Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit DOCG: The most elegant match available and worth the expense for a Christmas table. Picolit is delicate rather than heavy, with acacia honey, candied peel and white peach over a fine thread of acidity, and it lifts the spice in the filling instead of piling weight on it. Serve small pours at 52°F (11°C).
Moscato d'Asti DOCG: The everyday Italian answer to a rich festive cake, and a genuinely good one here. Low alcohol, light sparkle and grapey aromatics scrub the palate between slices, and the gentle sweetness sits below the glaze rather than competing with it. The one caution is that it needs to be young: an old bottle loses the freshness the pairing depends on.
Recioto di Soave DOCG: Made from dried Garganega grapes, and the best structural fit for the almond in this cake. It has real body, apricot and marzipan aromatics and a long almondy finish that runs straight into the toasted nuts and the pistachio. Its acidity is high enough to carry the fat of the frolla through a whole slice.
Malvasia di Bosa DOC: The unexpected choice, from western Sardinia, aged under a film of yeast and tasting of bruised apple, hazelnut and dried citrus peel. That oxidative character mirrors the candied fruit and the figs rather than contrasting with them, and the finish is dry enough to reset the palate after the sugar glaze.
Storage & Reheating
An unglazed buccellato keeps 3 weeks wrapped in parchment and then in foil, at cool room temperature and away from the oven. Glazed, it keeps 10 days the same way, though the icing dulls after the first week. Do not refrigerate it at any stage: the cold dries the casing, hardens the fat and flattens the spice, and the condensation on the way back to room temperature marks the glaze. Once cut, press parchment against the exposed faces to stop them drying.
It freezes whole and unglazed, wrapped twice, for 3 months. Thaw it overnight still wrapped so moisture condenses on the wrapping instead of the pastry, then glaze on the day you serve. Slices freeze 1 month and thaw in 40 minutes. A ring gone dry after several weeks comes back with 8 minutes at 300°F (150°C) and a full cooling, but only if it is unglazed.
Nutrition
Per slice, based on 12 slices from one ring of 10 inches:
Calories: 485 kcal
Total Fat: 20 g
Saturated Fat: 8 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
Cholesterol: 55 mg
Sodium: 135 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 70 g
Fiber: 5 g
Total Sugars: 43 g
Added Sugars: 22 g
Protein: 8 g
Lactose: 0.6 g
Principal micronutrients: potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamin E, copper, manganese
These figures are estimates. The glaze alone accounts for roughly 60 calories and 14 grams of sugar per slice, so a ring finished with a dusting instead of icing is appreciably lighter.
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