Christmas Stollen, delicious Christmas cake from Germany is incredibly rich but actually reasonably easy to make. Set a pre-Christmas morning aside and try my recipe!
Stollen for Christmas
Christmas Stollen, Christstollen or Weihnachtstollen is German/Austrian festive cake (bread, if you like, since made from yeast dough), headily spiced and rich with butter, packed with dried fruit and almonds, with a marzipan strand for good measure.
Its history goes back to 14th century when it was baked in 30-pound loaves. Traditionally a piece of Stollen was supposed to be set aside and saved until the following year, to ensure good luck and prosperity. No records whether it was still edible by then, however.
Stollen vs. panettone
An easy, Christmassy comparison springs to mind, between Stollen and Italian Christmas bread, panettone. A bit like football, it’s a Christmas breads derby.
Stollen tastes absolutely divine when still warm from the oven but it also lasts extremely well, better than panettone. Admittedly it’s not as light and fluffy. It takes most of a day to make from scratch but that’s nothing compared to panettone, which eats up your pre-Christmas week!
I usually make both but pressed against the wall I’d go for Stollen, and not because of the effort involved. Call it my north-European soul, but the fruit and the marzipan, slightly stodgy and buttery rich crumb, the coating of sugar upon sugar makes it feel so festive and special. Plus, a Stollen will never, ever collapse or sink when out of the oven!
Soak the fruit
The first step, and don’t skip it, is soaking the fruit mix in booze. The best method is to place all the fruit in a ziplock bag, warm up the rum and pour it in. Close the bag, then squish and squash it to make sure the liquid gets everywhere, and leave it overnight. Practically all of it should be absorbed.
The fruit selection is totally free choice: raisins, sultanas, apricots, cranberries, figs, citrus peel and anything else dried and fruity. I add chopped almonds to the soaking mix, but you might want to keep them out and add to the dough without soaking, to stay crunchy.
You can substitute fruit juice for rum if necessary.
Spice mix
In Germany you can buy a ready mix of spices for Stollen. English Mixed Spice is not quite suited for an authentic flavour, but it’s easy enough to make your own mix, out of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger which makes a gentle, fragrant spice, not as punchy as gingerbread Gewürtz.
The fresher the spices, the nicer the flavour so make sure to stock up and bin all the last year’s spice jars.
Make your own marzipan
Marzipan is the simplest confection to make and homemade is immeasurably better than shop bought.
In the pure version marzipan is simply a mix of ground almonds and sugar, though not the same as almond paste (more sugar in marzipan). But my recipe, enriched with egg yolks and lemon juice is so delicious, I’m always tempted to make it rather than knead or grind just almonds and sugar. And it’s easier to make too, plus it can be doubled up and frozen for other confections.
How to make the Stollen dough?
If you’re reasonably versed in yeast baking, this is a doddle. If you additionally have a standing mixer, you can look forward to a leisurely morning of drinking coffee and occasionally adding a handful of fruit and stuff to the bowl.
Seriously though, it’s forgiving. The dough is so rich, it doesn’t fluffily rise, like in Italian bakes. So it’s not a disaster if Stollen turns out a little lumpy: it will still be delicious with all the fruit, almonds, marzipan and icing sugar.
The dough is made in two stages: the sponge or starter dough first, with half the flour and yeast dissolved in warm water stirred in. This should stand in a warm place to activate and bubble up, even if you’re using instant yeast.
The second stage is the main dough, which is the rest of the flour with the spices, sugar, egg and some milk. In a standing mixer this will take only a minute or to amalgamate, by hand it will be considerably more time and elbow grease.
Very soft but not melted butter should be kneaded in in two additions and the longer you or the mixer works the dough, the better. It should end up smooth, elastic, glossy and silky.
After half an hour’s rest, you can add the almonds, if separate from fruit, and the soaked fruit. Mixing it in is in my view best done by hand, to avoid mashing the fruit into dough.
Another half hour rest, and it’s time to shape the loaves.
Shaping Stollen babies
This recipe makes two loaves so the rested dough needs to be divided in two, then gently rolled out into oval shapes. The marzipan stick will nestle in the middle, lengthwise, and the dough will fold over it, not quite edge to edge.
This traditional shape is said to resemble a swaddled baby Jesus, and even though there are special Stollen tins that make orderly shaped loaves, I do like the rustic, symbolic no-shaping.
Baking and storing
After an hour’s proof in a warm place, Stollen should be baked at the bottom of the oven, preferably with some steam.
Right out of the oven, brush it all over with melted butter then shower with vanilla-flavoured caster sugar. And just in case Stollen was not rich enough, dust it profusely with icing sugar when cold.
Stollen is a rich dough which matures over time, develops flavour and softens texture. To that purpose, wrap each Stollen in parchment paper then tightly in foil, and store in a cold corner of the house or in the fridge if there’s space. And if you can manage to leave them untouched for long enough!
More festive baking recipes
Dutch gingerbread biscuits, speculaasbrokken, thick and chunky. They are the easiest Christmas cookies, baked in a large slab decorated with almonds.
Gingerbread cake with marmalade or jam filling and a maple syrup glaze. This is an easy recipe for traditional gingerbread cake, sticky and spicy, with stem ginger pieces and maple syrup icing. It is a perfect holiday cake and stupidly easy to bake.
Shortcrust pastry mince pies, the best recipe. Homemade mincemeat is very easy to make and much nicer than anything you could buy. And thankfully eating them on Christmas Day is not illegal any more!
More German Christmas recipes
This is the best and easiest recipe for lebkuchen, or gingerbread cookies. Traditional lebkuchen covered with lemon icing or coated in chocolate. Lebkuchen are honeyed and spiced biscuits and a great fun to ice and decorate.
Zimtsterne are German cinnamon and almond star-shaped cookies baked and gifted during Advent and Christmas. Tiny, dainty and naturally gluten-free, they are like an edible sweet snowflake!
Mohnstollen is a Stollen log with poppy seed filling, traditionally baked in Germany, Poland (makowiec) and Austria for Christmas. Brioche-like Stollen dough is filled with sweet and spiced poppy seeds and rolled into a log.