This looks elaborate, but in actual fact it is surprisingly simple to make, as long as you have the right mould for baking the brioche
In keeping with the Christmas theme, it’s decorated the garland with a layer of royal icing ‘snow’ and some really beautiful glacé fruit
Serves 8 – 10
Ingredients
• 1 quantity Brioche dough
• butter, for greasing
• 50ml spiced rum
• 1 orange, zested
• 1 lemon, zested
• 300g candied fruit, roughly chopped, such as pears, tangerines, cherries and angelica
• 50g sultanas
• flour, for dusting
• 100ml Stock syrup glaze
• 200g Royal icing
• 150g whole glace fruit, halved or sliced
Method
1 Make the brioche dough and prove it for 1½ hours (instead of the 2 hours in step 4 of the brioche dough recipe).
2 Generously butter a 24cm bundt tin or savarin mould. Place the rum, orange and lemon zest, candied fruit and sultanas in a bowl and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Take about 60g of the fruit and scatter into the buttered tin.
3 Lightly flour a work surface then tip the dough out onto it and gently knock the air out of the dough. Spread it out to a large rectangle about 50cm x 30cm and scatter the remaining soaked fruit over the dough.
4 Roll into a large sausage shape about 50cm long, then twist round into a circle, joining the ends together. Transfer to the prepared tin, cover and leave to rise for 1½ hours in a warm place.
5 Preheat the oven to 190°C.
6 Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and hollow when tapped on the base of the ring.
7 Remove, turn out upside down and brush with the stock syrup glaze, then leave to cool on a wire rack.
8 When cold, spread the royal icing on the top and decorate with the glacé fruit.
Recipe and image courtesy of James Martin, extracted from Sweet
