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Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)

Name: Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 large Pandoro cake; 2 cups Mascarpone ((17.5 oz/500g)); 1 fl oz Vin Santo (or liqueur of choice (30ml)); 1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar) plus 1 tbsp for dusting ((70g)); 1/4 cup pistachios plus a few extra to decorate ((25g)); 1/2 cup white chocolate (finely chopped (50g)); 1/2 cup Red currants or pomegranate (plus extra for decoration (3.5 oz/100g))

By Emily

Updated Nov 04, 2020, Published Dec 10, 2019

5 from 6 votes

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A beautiful Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake made with Pistachios and White Chocolate. This festive Christmas tree shaped cake is a super fun and impressive Italian dessert yet it won’t take you longer than 15 minutes to make! Spend less time in the kitchen and more time celebrating the festive season!

A pandoro christmas tree cake topped with fairy lights in the background

Pandoro (golden bread) is a super soft and light, vanilla-scented Italian Christmas cake similar to panettone.

It’s absolutely delicious and the perfect treat for the festive season especially because of its Christmas tree shape.

You can make it yourself using a pandoro cake tin but I love to buy them at the supermarket and turn them into a festive show stopper which is so much more fun and really quick.

I mean, how impressive is this cake and it takes no longer than 15 minutes to make!

Interested in Italian Christmas food? Read our Traditional Italian Christmas Foods post that goes through what Italians eat in each region.

Ingredients – what you need

Other than a pandoro cake you’ll need a few simple and easy ingredients to make this Christmas tree cake;

Mascarpone – use full-fat mascarpone.
Powdered sugar (icing sugar) – I don’t use much because the pandoro itself is very sweet but you can easily add more or less to your liking.
Liqueur – my original recipe used vin santo (a sweet Italian wine) but it can be hard to find out of Italy so you can use marsala or any liqueur of choice.
White chocolate – good quality finely chopped (to speed things up you could use white chocolate chips)
Pistachios – make sure they’re unsalted
Red currants – these are super delicious but if you can’t find them you can use pomegranate instead.

An overhead shot of all the ingredients needed to make a christmas tree cake

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How to make Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake – step by step

First, add the mascarpone to a bowl and add the liqueur and powdered sugar (photos 1 & 2).

Beat the mixture with an electric mixer until combined (photos 3 & 4).

Step by step photos for making a pandoro cake filling

Next, add the chopped white chocolate and pistachios and mix together with the mascarpone mixture (photos 5 – 7).

Cut the pandoro cake four times to create five sections (see photos 8 & 9).

Spread each section with the mascarpone mixture and sprinkle with a few red currants. Lay each slice of pandoro back on top of each other as you go so the points don’t match to resemble a Christmas tree (photos 10 -12).

Decorate the rest of the cake with a few more red currants and pistachios and sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve! (photo 13).

Step by step photos for making a pandoro christmas tree cake

Other liqueurs you can use

Since Vin Santo can be hard to find I often use Marsala or another sweet liqueur, here are some of my favourites;

Marsala
Cointreau
Baileys
Chocolate liqueur
Limoncello
Frangelico

Making it in advance

Because this Christmas tree cake is super quick to make and maybe a bit too big to fit in the fridge I make it the day I’m serving it.

If you want to prep in advance then you can make the mascarpone filling and even cut the cake and wrap it back up until you are ready to serve.

Then all you need to do is fill each layer last minute and make the final touches.

A close up of a pandoro christmas tree cake with fairy lights in the background

Top tips and recipe FAQs

Use a serrated bread knife to cut the cake into sections
Pistachios give a fun festive green colour to the cake but you can swap them for other nuts if you prefer.
You can also swap the white chocolate for milk or dark chocolate.
If you’re freezing leftover cake then make sure to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and foil.
You can follow this recipe with panettone instead (it’ll be delicious) but you won’t get the same Christmas tree effect.
Pomegranate can be used instead of red currants.

How long does this cake last?

The cake will last around 1 day out of the fridge. Leftovers or the whole cake (if there is space) will last up to 3-4 days in the fridge or can be frozen wrapped in plastic wrap (cling film), foil and in suitable containers.

A close up of a pandoro christmas tree cake with a slice missing

More Italian Desserts You Might Like;

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