I don't think you want the data from your Request, I think you want the data from your Response. The two are different. Also you should build your response correctly in your controller.
Looking at the class in edit #2, I would make it look like this:
class XmlController extends Controller
{
public function index()
{
$content = Request::all();
return Response::json($content);
}
}
Once you've gotten that far you should check the content of your response in your test case (use print_r if necessary), you should see the data inside.
More information on Laravel responses here: