Eden Project

Delicious Christmas Stollen cake recipe

Impress your friends this Christmas with homemade stollen, that delicious traditional German loaf full of spices and marzipan. Today, our Eden chefs share the secret recipe behind the stollen cake served in our own Bakery.

Ingredients (makes two loaves)

For the loaf:

• 100g butter, cooled but still soft
• 500g plain flour
• 40g fresh yeast
• 40g sugar
• 225ml milk, warmed
• 1 large egg, beaten
• salt

For the filling:

• 200g marzipan
• 110g sultanas
• 100g mixed peel
• 50g flaked almonds
• 50g undyed glacé cherries
• 6 green cardamoms
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

• 50g butter
• icing sugar

Method

1. Melt the butter in a small pan, then leave to cool down.
2. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl. Crumble in the yeast, then stir in the milk, sugar, salt, butter and the beaten egg. Mix thoroughly; the dough should be soft, shiny and rather sticky.
3. Turn out on to a lightly floured board. As you knead, the dough will become less and less sticky and more like a bread dough, though it will be heavier because of the butter and egg. When the dough is soft, elastic and no longer sticking to the board, scoop it up and put it into a floured bowl. Set aside, covered with a clean tea towel for a good hour.
4. Break the cardamom pods open and take out their black seeds. Crush the seeds to a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar or a spice mill.
5. Mix these in a bowl with the cherries, mixed peel, sultanas, cinnamon and flaked almonds.
6. Dust your work surface with flour and tip your risen dough on to it. Cut the dough in half, then flatten each piece out into a rectangle about 22cm x 16cm.
7. Cover each with half of the fruit filling, then break off pieces of marzipan and scatter them on top.
8. Place the longest side of each dough in front of you and roll each over to form loose loaf shapes.
9. Lift on to a floured baking sheet, cover with a towel and return to a warm place to prove for a further hour and a half.
10. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
11. Place the loaves in the hot oven and bake for about 35–40 minutes until pale gold.
12. Melt the butter for the glaze and brush over the loaves. Cool on a wire rack, then dust generously with icing sugar.

Comments:

2 comments

Categories:

A Time of Gifts Calendar, Food

Tags:

A Time of Gifts, Christmas, Food