Method

1 Whisk together the cream, mascarpone, half the Pedro Ximénez, ¾ of the orange zest and icing sugar together into a large bowl until the mixture is floppy and just holding its shape.

2 Cut the pandoro horizontally into five pieces. Place the bottom piece onto a plate or cake stand you want to serve the pandoro on then drizzle over a little of the remaining sherry. Spoon over a quarter of the cream mixture and top with a handful of the chopped almonds (you want to save some for decorating the top with). Add the next layer of pandoro and continue to sandwich the layers together, placing each layer on at a different angle so that you reconstruct the pandoro into the shape of a Christmas tree.

3 Dust with icing sugar then dot over the gold leaf if using along with the remaining chopped almonds and orange zest.

[TIP] If your pandoro comes with it’s own powdered sugar use this in place of the icing sugar.