This cherry wreath recipe is made with crowd-pleasing jammy cinnamon rolls and is a beautiful centerpiece for your Christmas gathering!
I can't believe how much you all loved my Raspberry and Pistachio Wreath Recipe especially on social media!
This cherry roll wreath is slightly more sophisticated than my former wreath recipe. The jammy cinnamon rolls are similar to conventional cinnamon rolls but they are made using a more complicated lamination process. If you're a baking enthusiast, you'll enjoy making this!
This cherry wreath recipe is:
- Full of Christmas cheer
- A perfect centrepiece for celebrations
- Just like cinnamon rolls but with LOTS more layers and a jammy filling!
- Can be made in advance
The cherry rolls are an adaptation of my berry swirl rolls.
Making the individual rolls for the cherry wreath recipe
I'd recommend this wreath recipe for people who are familiar with making simple cinnamon rolls like these or babka.
Similar to cinnamon rolls or babka, you need to make your dough and roll it out. It's best to roll it into a large and long rectangle!
Spread your cooled jam on two-thirds of the dough. Make sure your jam is VERY thick and sticky otherwise it'll ooze out and make a mess!
You'll notice that one third of the dough doesn't have jam on it. Fold this over onto the jammy dough. Then fold the outer dough over to the middle.
At this stage, you'll have an 'envelope' with three layers of dough and jam between each layer.
Get your rolling pin then carefully roll out (or squash) the dough so it's a large rectangle again.
Use a very sharp knife and cut your dough into long strips, lengthways.
I wanted my wreath to have a certain number of rolls for a particular wreath design (6 big rolls and 6 mini rolls). I did some quick maths, scored the dough with my knife and cut away!
Assembling the cherry wreath
I found it easiest to assemble my cherry buns around a circular cookie cutter and on the base of a 25 cm (10 inch) round cake tin. All my rectangle baking trays aren't wide enough for the wreath!
I placed 6 large buns around the cookie cutter and 6 smaller buns in the gaps. For the 6 smaller buns, I pinched the edges to help the wreath look like a star.
If you omit the 6 smaller buns, you can just place all your buns in one circle to form a wreath!
Like cinnamon rolls, once you've shaped them, allow them to rest for 1 hour or until puffy! Then bake away!
Check out my other vegan Christmas recipes:
- Raspberry and Pistachio Wreath
- Pistachio and Cranberry Vegan Christmas Cookies
- Vegan gingerbread cookies (refined sugar free)
- Vegan Gingerbread Layer Cake
- Gingerbread vegan caramel tart
- Gingerbread custard tiramisu terrine
Cherry Roll Wreath Recipe
Ingredients
Buns
- 2 ½ - 3 cups (315-375g) all-purpose plain flour, or bread flour (start with less flour and add more if needed)
- ¾ cup (165g) dairy-free milk, warm
- ½ cup (115g) vegan butter, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons (40g) granulated sugar, or coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon (9g) instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of any good-quality salt, if you're not using salted butter
Jam filling
- 1 ½ cups (110g) fresh or frozen cherries, pitted
- ½ cup (40g) fresh or frozen raspberries, or sub with more cherries
- Sweetener if desired, (my fruit was already very sweet but feel free to add a few spoons of cane sugar to taste)
- 2 tbsp corn starch / corn flour
To decorate (optional)
- 1 tablespoon (20g) cherry or berry jam
- 1 cup (100g) powdered sugar / icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15g) dairy-free milk
- Beetroot powder, raspberry or strawberry powder, optional for colour
Instructions
To make the buns:
- Combine all the dough ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer and mix until it comes together. Knead the mixture until it forms a smooth and stretchy dough. Add a little more milk if the dough is too dry or a little more flour if the dough sticks to the bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Set it aside in a warm spot for at least 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. If it doesn't double, place the dough in a WARMER spot until it does.
To prepare the jam filling:
- Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan over low heat. Mash the fruit with a fork and simmer until the fruit has broken down and the mixture is very thick and jammy. Puree with a stick blender. Set aside to cool.
To assemble the buns:
- Dust a clean surface with flour. Scoop the dough onto the surface and roll it out into a large rectangular shape.**
- Spread all the jam on two-thirds of the dough (see the blog post for pictures). Fold the outer two-thirds of the dough over. Use your rolling pin to flatten the layered dough into a large rectangle again.
- Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut around 8 long strips out of the dough. Roll each strip into a bun shape.
- Place a round cookie cutter (10 cm or 4 inches) in the middle of a lined baking tray or cake tin. Arrange the buns around the cookie cutter to form a wreath or as desired. Place a tea towel over the wreath and set aside to rise for at least 1 hour or until the wreath is puffy. The wreath should increase in size by around 20%.
Baking the wreath:
- When you're ready to bake the wreath, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Bake the wreath for around 20 minutes or until the outside is slightly golden brown. The baking time will depend on the thickness of your wreath. If you insert a skewer into the wreath, there should be no wet dough on it. Allow the wreath to cool on the baking tray.
- While the wreath is still hot, brush some jam on the surface.
Making the glaze (optional):
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until smooth. Add more sugar if the frosting is too thin and more milk if the frosting is too thick. It should be a thick drizzlable consistency. If you'd like your glaze to be richer in colour, add a little beetroot powder and mix until combined
- Drizzle the glaze on the wreath. If desired, set aside for the glaze to dry (or enjoy immediately haha).
- The wreath are best eaten the day they are baked. Alternatively, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the fridge for 3-4 days. Warm up the individual before you enjoy them.
Notes
Nutrition
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This sounds really tasty and I want to try this tomorrow.
One question though: is there really no sugar in the jam filling?
I think with the cherries and raspberries that I can buy (frozen) it is going to be really sour...
Thank you, it really was yummy! My cherries were already sweet but if yours are sour, add some cane sugar when you're making the filling. Hope that helps!
I only added 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup to the jam filling and that was more than enough (since I was pretty generous with the glaze). 🙂
It tasted amazing. Several non-vegan people asked for the recipe. Thank you very much!