A showstopper for your Christmas table that’s surprisingly easy to make
Simple yet striking, this is the perfect centrepiece to wrap up your Christmas celebration.
My Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake feels wonderfully festive. Pandoro, an Italian Christmas cake like panettone but without the fruit, is soft, buttery, and perfect for adding your favourite toppings. Inspired by the classic Victorian sponge, I’ve layered the golden Pandoro with vanilla custard-mascarpone cream and a luminous red raspberry sauce. This is more about assembly than a recipe; simply stack the layers to resemble a tree, with the cream and sauce nestled between each layer. It’s finished with a dusting of snowy icing sugar, delicate gold leaf and a shining star. Simple yet striking, it’s the perfect centrepiece to wrap up your Christmas celebration.
Try too my gin-cured salmon recipe for your Christmas table.
Christmas tree cake
This cake is best assembled just before serving, as it can dry out in the fridge. However, the cream and raspberry sauce can be made ahead and stored in the fridge; take them out 30 minutes before serving.
Ingredients
- 1 x 1kg Pandoro
- 3 egg yolks
- 225g mascarpone
- 300ml thickened cream
- 100g (½ cup) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla seed paste
Raspberry Sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 250g frozen raspberries
- 1/3 cup (70g) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
To serve
- Gold leaf, optional
- Gold star, optional
Method
- To make the raspberry sauce, in a small bowl whisk together the cornflour and water to form a slurry. This will help thicken the sauce. Set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the frozen raspberries, cornflour slurry, sugar, and lemon juice. Gently mash the raspberries as they thaw to help them soften.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla paste. Let it cool on the bench before placing it in the fridge to thicken for at least 4 hours. This can be made up to 5 days ahead.
- For the mascarpone cream: in a stand mixer or large bowl beat the egg yolks and half the sugar (¼ cup) until very pale yellow and doubled in volume. The mixture should form a slight ribbon when lifted from the beaters. In another bowl, whip the cream with the remaining sugar (¼ cup) until soft peaks form. Add the mascarpone and continue whipping just until it’s soft and billowy with medium peaks; don’t overwhip. Gently fold the mascarpone mixture into the whipped egg yolks until fully combined. While this cream can be made ahead, it will set in the fridge so make sure to bring it to room temperature and fold gently to loosen it up.
- To assemble. Using a serrated knife, cut the Pandoro into 4 slices: the base, then three even cuts. Spread each layer evenly with the mascarpone mixture, then dollop and spread the raspberry sauce on top. Feel free to let some sauce spill to the edges – when you stack the layers, the filling will naturally drizzle out. Layer the slices on top of each other, ensuring the points don’t match up, to create a Christmas tree shape.
- Repeat until you’ve built your tree, leaving some cream and sauce to decorate the top. Dust with icing sugar, and if desired carefully apply gold leaf, then skewer a star on top.
Serves 10