Chocolate and Macadamia Wreath

This is a beautiful wreath. It's a bit fiddly and time consuming, but it's a great treat to share on special occasions.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 5 mins
• Serves: 6
• Yields: 1 wreath

Ingredients

• Dough

• 500  g  unbleached bread flour
• 1  tablespoon  yeast
• 3  tablespoons golden syrup
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 50  g butter
• 300  ml  warm milk or 300  ml water
• 1  lemon, zest of

• Filling

• 1  tablespoon demerara sugar
• 150  g  chopped dark chocolate
• 100  g  chopped  macadamia nuts

• Glaze (optional)

• 2  tablespoons marmalade or 2  tablespoons  apricot jam
• 2  tablespoons icing sugar
• 2 -3  teaspoons boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. To make the dough, place flour in a large bowl and rub the butter through with your fingertips so that the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the yeast, salt, golden syrup, lemon rind and milk or water and mix to form dough.
4. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and kneed until the dough is soft and elastic.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, well oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap and allow to rise until doubled. About 1 hour.
6. When the dough has risen, roll it out, on a floured surface, to a rectangle about 40cm x 20cm and about 1cm thick.
7. Evenly sprinkle the chocolate, nuts and sugar over the surface of the dough, then roll up from the long end, firm and tight, like a Swiss roll. Carefully roll out the ‘sausage’ with your hands until it is about 50 - 60cms long.
8. Using a sharp knife, slice the roll in half lengthways down the middle, but only half the length of the roll. Twist these pieces together keeping the cut side up.
9. Turn and cut through the remaining dough down the middle, then twist these strips, taking care to disguise the join in the centre.
10. Bring the two ends together and form into a circle. Overlapping them to form an invisible join, then carefully place on a greased baking sheet. (I use a pizza tray.)
11. Set aside and allow to rise for 40 minutes, or until not quite doubled.
12. Brush with milk and bake for 35mins at 200OC, when baked, allow to cool on a wire rack.
13. Brush with heated jam. Mix the icing sugar with a little hot water and drizzle over wreath.