Dubai Chocolate Pandoro Christmas Cake Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 50 minutes plus 45 minutes chilling time
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 16 people
Ingredients Needed
For Filling
- 1 Pandoro (750g/1.6lbs)
- 225g/9ozs dark or milk chocolate
- 150g/5ozs kataifi pastry
- 60g/2ozs butter
- 360g/12.7ozs pistachio cream
- 20g/0.7ozs tahini
- Pinch salt
For Cream
- 150g/5ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 125g/4ozs cream cheese, cubed
- 600ml/20flozs thickened cream or double cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
To Decorate
- 1.05kg/2.3lbs fresh raspberries (or 6x175g/6oz punnets)
- 1 metre/1 yard Red velvet ribbon 6mm/0.25inch wide
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 HOLLOW - Remove Pandoro from packaging and turn upside down. Cut out the centre of the Pandoro trying to leave about an inch from the sides and top. Reserve the bottom piece of the pandoro as we will replace it to close it up.
Step 2 CHOCOLATE - Melt chocolate in microwave or in a double boiler (30 second increments on 70% power). Spread across the cut area of the Pandoro reserving some chocolate to seal the top. Refrigerate the Pandoro while you make the filling.
Step 3 KATAIFI - Cut up the kataifi pastry with scissors into 1/2 inch pieces and pull the pastry apart so that it isn't compacted. Heat a large frying pan with high sides on medium heat. Melt the butter and then add the kataifi in batches, turning it with tongs to ensure that it is crispy on all sides. This takes time, around 15-20 minutes or so, so take your time to ensure that the kataifi is really crispy and buttery. Note: this step can be done 2-3 days ahead of time, see tip above. Mix the kataifi with the pistachio cream, tahini and salt mixing well.
Step 4 FILL - By now the chocolate should be set. Add in the pistachio kataifi filling and fill up to almost the top leaving half an inch gap. Spread the top with the reserved melted chocolate (melt again if it has set). Trim the bottom of the pandoro piece to fit the gap and close up. Then trim the sides of the star so that it doesn't protrude as much.
Step 5a CREAM - To make the cream, fit a mixer with a beater attachment. Beat the sugar and cream cheese until completely smooth with no lumps at all. Then switch to a whisk attachment and add the cream and vanilla. Whisk until you get a thick whipped cream that if you run a knife through the cream, it holds without moving.
Step 5b THERMOMIX CREAM - Thermomix directions: place the sugar and cream cheese in TM bowl with butterfly whisk, set to 15 seconds, speed #4. Then add the cream and vanilla and set to 2 minutes, speed #4. Remove MC halfway through and watch the cream through to check that it doesn't overbeat. You should be able to run a knife through the cream and the cut should hold.
Step 6 DECORATE - Place the pandoro on a cake board on a cake turntable. Spread the cream around the pandoro evenly using an angled spatula to keep the cream smooth. Starting from the base, add raspberries one by one. Add bow on top. Store this uncovered in the fridge for 1 day.
Personal Note
I served this Pandoro cake at Friendsmas. We had it on the first weekend of December and Friendsmas is one of my favourite times of the year. I'll be honest though, this cake did cause a fight between Mr NQN and I. The day before I made this he took the car to go sailing so I asked him to pick up some raspberries for this. Normally I would pick the raspberries but he had the car and the shop was closing just after he was finishing.
"Make sure to pick really good raspberries, they're the main feature of this cake on the outside" I told him. "Yeah yeah," he said distractedly, loading his gear into the car.
He came home with lots of punnets of raspberries and placed them in the fridge. I didn't have a look at them until the next day and it was too late. A lot of them were soft and mushy, some even had mold on them.
"We need more raspberries," I told him that morning and then explained that he had to open each box to look at them (something I suspect he hadn't done before but I didn't say that). He got very huffy as soon as I told him that and told me that, "This is the last Friendsmas!" before storming off to buy them. It's a tantrum he throws every year at Halloween and Christmas and we still keep having them so I just ignore it for the most part.
He brought back more raspberries, some were still a bit on the way out. And I'd advise next time either buying them myself (which buys into the weaponised incompetence argument) or asking someone who has a good eye for detail to buy the raspberries!
In any case, tantrum over, he was much more pleasant after it having got it out of his system. And this is a picture of Lima Lima Delta, Laura's boyfriend who decided that it was a single serve cake!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like Pandoro? Do you usualy make desserts ahead of time for Christmas or on the day itself?
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