A Stollen Cake Recipe For A Traditional Holiday Dessert

Making a traditional Stollen cake during the holiday season can be a delightful and meaningful tradition for several reasons:

1. Tradition and Heritage: Stollen, a German fruitcake, has a rich history dating back to the 14th century. Baking a Stollen connects you to a long-standing culinary tradition and can be a way to honor your German heritage or simply embrace a different culture’s holiday traditions.
2. Festive Flavors: Stollen is packed with festive ingredients like dried fruits, nuts, and spices, such as candied orange peel, almonds, and a touch of marzipan. These flavors are perfect for the holiday season, and the aroma while baking can fill your home with a warm and inviting scent.
3. Symbolism: Stollen has a symbolic shape reminiscent of the Christ Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Baking and sharing Stollen can be a way to celebrate the religious or cultural aspects of the holiday season.
4. Homemade Goodness: Making Stollen from scratch allows you to control the ingredients, ensuring a high-quality product. This can be a fun and rewarding activity for bakers of all skill levels.
5. Gift-Giving: Stollen makes for a thoughtful homemade gift for friends and family during the holiday season. Sharing homemade treats can be a heartwarming way to show appreciation and spread joy.
6. Creativity: While traditional Stollen recipes exist, there are many variations and adaptations to suit your tastes. You can experiment with different fruits, nuts, and spices to create a Stollen that’s uniquely yours.
7. Connection: Baking and enjoying Stollen with loved ones can be a way to strengthen bonds and create lasting memories. You can involve family and friends in the baking process, fostering a sense of togetherness during the holidays.
8. Deliciousness: Ultimately, Stollen is a delicious treat! Its sweet and fruity flavors, combined with a dusting of powdered sugar, make it a delightful addition to any holiday table.

Making a traditional Stollen cake during the holiday season offers a wonderful opportunity to connect with tradition, share meaningful moments with loved ones, and savor a delicious and festive treat. Whether you embrace it for its cultural significance, flavor, or the joy of baking, Stollen can be a cherished part of your holiday celebrations.

Ingredients needed to make Stollen Cakes

The ingredients needed to make a sumptuous stollen cake are listed below. Although it comes with little variations from other yeast cake, you can add or subtract a thing or two from it depending on your individual preference. The needed ingredients include the following:

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 drops almond extract.
• 10 each of fast action yeast and salt
• 25g/1oz butter, melted
• 55g/2oz of finely chopped blanched almonds
• 100g/3½oz currants
• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• 125g/4oz mixed peel
• 150g/5½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 200g/7oz raisins
• 225g/8oz marzipan
• 250ml/9fl oz full-fat milk
• 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour, plus extra for flouring
• pinch ground cloves and nutmeg

Recipe Directions

If you want to prepare or learn how to make a sumptuous stollen cake for the coming holidays, below are the directions to follow to make sure you get the perfect stollen cake:

• First, you add the flour together with the sugar in a big bowl. Followed by the yeast added in one corner of the bowl and salt in the opposite corner. Now, the softened butter and milk weighing 200ml/7fl oz. should be added and stirred.
• Gently add the outstanding milk and mix the whole combination till it becomes a soft dough. Move the soft dough to an openhandedly sprinkled worktop and pressed for 5-8 minutes, or till it becomes flat and flexible.
• Put the almonds, almond extract, cloves, nutmeg, dried fruit, mixed peel and vanilla together in the bowl and mix. Place the dough on top and squeeze with a hand from the exterior into the center combining the dried fruit and spices.
• With the whole ingredients fully combined, place a cling film over the top of the bowl and let it rise for an hour or two in a warm area, or until the size has doubled.
• Next, is placing the mixture on a sparingly floured work surface and flattening the dough. After that, you roll it out on a rectangle surface, so the shortest part of the dough fits the lengthiest part of your baking tray. Use melted butter for brushing.
• Roll the marzipan out with the longest side approximately matching the span of your dough. Place it from the top through the center. Roll the dough high up to encompass the marzipan. Then move it to a baking tray already covered with baking parchment. Cover and allow to rise for about 60 minutes, or until it has risen to about doubled the original size.
• Heat up the oven to 190C or 375F.
• With the dough already risen, leave it to bake for another hour. Take the baked dough out of the oven, use melted butter to brush, and sprinkle icing sugar all over.
• At this point, you have your Stollen cake ready.

Servings

The recipe here would make one cake. If you desire more, you can always increase the recipe to get more of this type of yeast cake.

How Best to Serve Stollen Cake?

You can have your Stollen Cake cut up and served with butter, honey, or jam. You might also want to microwave or toast different slices before you eat them depending on your personal preference.

How to store Stollen Cake

Like other variety of Yeast cake, Stollen Cakes can be stored in a cool, dry place like a bread box or some cool place within your kitchenette.  Also, each slice can be wrapped and stored too in a cool, dry place.

How long can it be stored?

This type of yeast cake would last for quite a few months if reserved or covered in a cool, dry place.

CONCLUSION

This type of yeast cake can be made as early as November for upcoming holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. Stollen Cakes usually turn out to be more moist and tasty with a time of life.