Pan dell’orso from Scanno

Pan dell’orso («bear’s bread») is a cake from Scanno, the village in the Sagittario valley. It is shaped like a half-dome: inside is a soft mixture of ground almonds, honey, butter, eggs and flour; outside it is covered with a layer of dark chocolate.

It resembles Pescara’s parrozzo, but it is softer and fragrant with honey. You will find it in Scanno’s pastry shops and it is a typical gift for visitors; large versions also appear at celebrations and weddings.

For the cake

• 200 g blanched almonds
• 150 g wildflower honey
• 100 g soft butter
• 3 eggs
• 80 g sugar
• 100 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Grated zest of one lemon

For the coating

• 200 g dark chocolate
• 20 g butter

1. Lightly toast the almonds in the oven, let them cool and grind them finely with two spoonfuls of the sugar.
2. Cream the butter with the rest of the sugar, then add the honey and the eggs, one at a time.
3. Fold in the flour sifted with the baking powder, the ground almonds and the lemon zest.
4. Pour into the buttered and floured mould and bake at 170 °C for about 40–45 minutes: test with a skewer.
5. Let it cool slightly, turn it out onto a rack and let it cool completely.
6. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bain-marie and pour it over the cake, spreading it with a spatula until fully covered. Let it set in a cool place.

• The honey gives the cake its fragrance: use a mountain honey, like those of the Alto Sangro.
• For a clean cut, warm the knife blade under hot water and dry it.
• It keeps for a few days under a glass dome, away from heat.

We do not have photos of this sweet yet: the image is an illustration made for this page. If you have a photo to share, write to us.

The most popular story tells that some shepherds, during the transhumance, carried almond and honey cakes in their saddlebags. A bear attacked them: it spared the men but ate all the cakes. From then on those cakes were called «pan dell’orso».

The cake as we know it today was created in Scanno’s pastry shops in the 20th century, reworking traditional almond and honey sweets. The Marsican bear, which lives in the woods around the village, became its symbol.