Don't steal my Stollen but you can borrow it. (Cakes)

Member Name: Motherjoan

Product:	Cakes
Date:	16/11/05 (4181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very tasty, and morish but traditional

Disadvantages: fattening

I would like to share with you my recipe for Stollen Cake but first I would like to give you a little bit of information about the origin.

The Stollen Cake originated in Dresden Germany around 1400. It is a very rich traditional Christmas cake with a variety of dried fruit, nuts and covered with icing sugar and keep for a quite a long time. The Stollen is suppose to symbolise the baby Jesus Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.

When Stollen was first made butter was forbidden to be used during advent by the Catholic Church as part of the pre Christmas fasting convention, which made the cake rather tasteless and dry. However in 1650 Prince Ernst von Sachsen along with the bakers of Dresden asked Pope Urban VIII to lift the ban on the use of butter during Advent. The Pope granted the request but only for Dresden and so the tradition of the Dresden Stollen as we know it began.

The traditional Stollen goes by many different names in German like Dresden Stollen, Strutzel, Christstollen, Stollen, Striezel or Stutenbrot. The recipes vary in different households but the basic recipe is the same.

In 1994 Dresden celebrated its first Stollen festival and is now a part of Dresden’s cultural life and the highlight of the Dresden Christmas fair. The baking of a giant Stollen is one of the festivals highlights. These giant stolen can weigh between 3 and 4 tons. Then a horse-drawn wagon procession holding the giant Stollen tours the Old Town area then the giant cake is cut by a 1.2 metre long Stollen Knife by the Stollen Maiden and sold to the visitors.

Preparation time 30 minutes mixing + 1 hour 45 minutes proving
Cooking time 40 minutes
Cooking Temperature 180 degrees C, 350 degrees F, Gas 4
Serves 6 - 8 people

Traditional Recipe Ingredients

80ml lukewarm water
80ml lukewarm milk
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
7g sachet dried yeast

375g plain flour
90g caster sugar
1 egg
120g softened butter (DO NOT USE margarine or low fat spread)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
60g raisins
75g currents
95g mixed peel
60g flaked almonds
30g melted butter (again ONLY BUTTER must be used)
Icing sugar to dust

Method

1. Mix the water, milk, yeast and granulated sugar in a bowl and stand in a warm place for 10 minutes until the mixture is foamy.
Meanwhile, cream the softened butter and caster sugar until light and creamy then beat in the egg and vanilla essence.

2. Add the yeast mixture, cinnamon and almost all of the flour and mix into a soft dough. (Add more flour if necessary). Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until the dough is smooth and like elastic.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to double in volume. Brush a baking tray with lightly oil or melted butter.

3. When the dough is risen turn out onto a floured surface and kneed to removed the air and then roll it out to the thickness of 1.2 cm / ½ inch. Sprinkle the fruit and almonds over the dough, gather together and kneed until the fruit and almonds are mixed evenly through the dough.

4. Shape the dough into an oval about 30cm long and 18 cm wide and flatten slightly, fold in half lengthways and flatten lightly with the fold slightly off centre at the top of the cake.
Place on a prepared tray and bake until golden brown. When baked, remove form the oven and brush the cake with the melted butter allowing each coat to soak into the cake before adding the next until all the butter is used.
Leave to cool then dust with icing sugar before slicing.

Alternative recipe no.1(my favourite)

At stage 4 before folding the dough in half, take a roll of marzipan the length of the dough and place off centre so that when you fold the dough it is blanketed in the cake, and bake as directed.

Alternative recipe no.2 (my daughters favourite)

At stage 4 Shape the dough into an oval about 30cm long and 18 cm wide and flatten slightly, along the left side about half way to the centre place a roll of marzipan and in the right side about half way to the centre place chocolate flake bars or mars bars then roll the each side inwards towards each other like you would a scroll. Ensure all edges are sealed before baking.

I know what I shall be doing this weekend, baking Stollen cakes for the family using their favourite fillings. Why dont you join me by making one yourself

© motherjoan

Summary: German traditional Christmas cake recipe but can be baked at any time through the year