A Must Have Baking CookBook!

Francine Segan has written Dolci :Italy's Sweets - a collection of Italy's traditional desserts. From Cannoli's to Tiramisu, she covers desserts from every region of Italy. She gives some great background and history to go along with each recipe. The recipe's are fun and give you a sense of the Italian culture.

For Christmas, I decided to make the Recipe: Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake. I used a Shoprite Imported Pandoro and followed Segans recipe for the filling. The filling was amazing and so easy to make. It was definitely a hit on the Christmas dessert table. Buon Natale!

Recipe: Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake

Serves: Serves 10 

Ingredients

¾ cup sugar

6 tablespoons liqueur, such as Cointreau, or rum

2 large egg yolks

14 ounces mascarpone cheese

1 cup heavy cream

1 Pandoro* cake, about 1 pound

Candied cherries, fresh mint leaves, silver confetti, and crushed candy canes for decoration

Confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in 4 tablespoons of the liqueur. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar for about 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy.

3. Beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons liqueur.

4. Fold in the mascarpone.

5. In a separate medium bowl, whip the cream until firm peaks form.

6. Fold the mascarpone mixture into the whipped cream.

7. Carefully, so as not to break the points, slice the pandoro horizontally into 6 slices. Brush the outsides of the slice (the browned parts) with the liqueur syrup.

8. Place the largest pandoro slice on a serving platter and spread with some of the mascarpone mixture. Cover with the next largest slice, angling it so that the points of the star don’t line up. Spread with some of the mascarpone mixture and repeat with the remaining layers, finishing with a dollop of mascarpone on top.

9. Decorate the points with candies or candied cherries and mint leaves.

10. Sprinkle the entire cake with confectioners' sugar and serve.

*Pandoro is available in many supermarkets beginning in the late fall. Thanks to the natural yeast used in making Pandoro, and despite containing no artificial preservatives, it lasts more than six months without refrigeration.