Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)
Dec 10, 2019, Updated Nov 04, 2020
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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!
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.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItHow 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).
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).
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.
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.
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.
More Italian Desserts You Might Like;
- White Chocolate Panna Cotta
- Lady’s Kisses – Baci di Dama (Italian Cookies)
- Panettone Bread Pudding
- Italian Affogato Recipe – Ice Cream And Coffee
- Quick & Easy Tiramisu – Best Ever Recipe
- Italian Almond Cookies (Ricciarelli)
If you try this Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake be sure to let me know how you got on in the comments below. You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
Step By Step Photos Above
Most of our recipes come with step by step photos, helpful tips and tricks to make it perfectly first time and even video!
Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)
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)
Instructions
- Put the mascarpone in a large mixing bowl with the vin santo and powdered sugar and whisk together for 1 minute. Add the chopped white chocolate and pistachios and stir through, set aside.
- Cut the pandoro in five slices from bottom to top. Spread each layer evenly with the mascarpone mixture making sure to scatter a few red currents on each layer.
- Lay each slice of pandoro on top of each other so the points don’t match to resemble a Christmas tree as you are layering the mascarpone mixture.
- Top with a dusting of powdered sugar and some more red currents and pistachios.
Notes
- 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.
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is simply the most stunning Christmas cake ever. Perfect as centerpiece. Now I need to buy a Pandoro cake to make this too. 🙂
Wow this is spectacular! Definitely a ccenter piece for a holiday party
Thanks so much!
This is so cute and festive!! I was looking for a dessert to bring to a chritmas party and this recipe is perfect!
Hope you enjoy it, it’s perfect for parties!
This is stunning! I know it’ll be a hit at our party this weekend. Thank you!
Aw thanks so much, really hope you enjoy it!
Wow this looks so delicious! What a delightful addition the the festive table! Hope mine looks as good as yours!
I’m sure it will, thanks so much!
You certainly achieved the WOW factor with this cake. The icing between the layers sounds perfectly light to match the fluffy cake, and the presentation is absolutely gorgeous! Makes me ready for Christmas!
Aw thank you so much Mackenzie, I’m definitely feeling very festive now!
I tasted it!!! It has been difficult to stop after the first slice… I could have eaten the whole thing… DELICIOUS!!
Haha thank you so much Stefania! 🙂
This is fabulous, I’ve had something similar when an Italian friend served us a pandoro like this with ricotta and dark chocolate. This looks so tasty and a great tip about adding the redcurrants at a later date, I wouldn’t have thought of that and the white is striking.
Ooh that sounds delicious, thank you so much!
That look so pretty and I love how simple it is to make. Thanks for the recipe.
No problem, thank you Veena!
Fantastic looking sweet; would impress even the most fussy of our festive visitors. The pistachio’s are a lovely touch.
Thanks so much Helen, it’s so easy too!