German Stollen Recipe

Traditional Christmas Cake

This Stollen recipe comes from my mom in law. Every year, she baked this traditional German cake for Christmas. Since Christmas in Germany cannot be celebrated without this German cake, I had to learn to make it.

stollen recipe This traditional Christmas cake recipe is time consuming, so I always put a day aside to bake it. In this stolen recipe you will see that the yeast dough has to rise 3 times.

The baking time is also long; it can be up to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Having said that, it is wise save it for a rainy day when you don’t feel like leaving your home.

In the end, all your efforts will be rewarded. The cake is wonderfully fluffy and moist and can be stored in an airtight container for couple of weeks.

Also, if you plan to serve this cake, you should bake it 5-7 days before actually serving it. The butter needs time to really sink into the cake, making it just delectable.

Stollen is a traditional Christmas cake and it is a must on the German Christmas table. Christmas in Germany is celebrated for the whole advent time and up to the Three Kings (Epiphany) Holiday.

Cakes that last long are very welcome and that is one of the reasons why Stollen is so popular. Stollen is one of the oldest German cakes.

The most famous Stollen in Germany is from Dresden. It is produced by only 150 bakers in the city of Dresden and comes with an official seal of King August II the Strong.

I hope that you will enjoy this Stollen recipe as much as I did and if you are planning a German Christmas, you will actually take your time and make this master piece.

Christstollen – Traditional Stollen Recipe

Dough for 2 Stollen cakes:
• 1150 g (2.5 lbs) flour
• 100 g (3.5 oz) live yeast
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 150 g (3/4 cup) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise and scraped
• Lemon peel from 1 lemon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 400 g (10.6 oz) butter, melted

Filling for the traditional Stollen:
• 375 g (13.2 oz) raisins
• 100 g (3.5 oz) peeled, chopped almonds
• 100 g (3.5 oz) chopped citron
• 80 g (2.8 oz) chopped orangenat (you can use candied orange peel)
• 20 ml (2 tablespoons) rum
Topping:
• 150 g (5.3 oz) butter
• 150 g (5.3 oz) powdered sugar

Start preparing the yeast dough:
• Using a spoon, mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
• Add warm milk and 150 g (5.3 oz) of flour (1 cup).
• Mix well, cover with a clean cloth and let it grow in a WARM place (the temperature will speed up the growth process). This will take anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour.

In the meantime:
• Beat the eggs with the rest of the sugar so that the color of the mixture is bright yellow.
• Add the vanilla seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, salt, lemon zest, and mix well.

Prepare the yeast dough:
• When the yeast mixture has doubled its volume, add the beat eggs mixture, 800 g (1.8 lbs) of the flour, and knead to smooth dough. Use the hook attachment on your electric mixer. This is easier when you have a table top mixer like “KitchenAid.”
• When you see air bubbles in the dough, slowly add melted butter mixed with 200 g (7 oz) of flour. The dough will be very heavy. I ended up dividing it in half and kneading it separately in two batches.
• Mix for 10 to 15 minutes longer. The longer one mixes a yeast cake, the fluffier it will be in the end.
• Cover the dough with a clean dish towel and let it grow for about 1 hour or until it has doubled its volume.

Prepare the Stollen filling:
• Wash the raisins in hot water, let them dry.
• Mix the raisins with the chopped almonds, citron, and candied orange peel in a small bowl.
• Add the rum and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Prepare the Stollen:
• Knead the fruit filling with the yeast dough.
• Cover it with clean dishcloth and let it grow for another hour.
• Make 2 rolls from the dough, roll them out, making it thinner in the middle then on the sides. Flip the longer sides of the rolled out stollen on top of each other to create a roll.
• Place the Stollen rolls next to each other on lined cookie sheet, cover with clean dishcloth and let it grow for another hour.
• Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).
• Before placing the Stollen in the oven, make sure that it has grown significantly.
• Bake the Stollen for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check after 40 minutes for doneness with a long toothpick since it might be ready.
• Smear the hot Stollen with melted 150 g (5.3 oz)butter.
• Sprinkle thickly with powder sugar.
• Let the Stollen cool overnight and pack tightly in clear foil. The cake needs 5-7 days to completely soak through with butter. It is best after 2-3 weeks.

This Stollen recipe yields two Stollen cakes. Since you place them next to each other on the cookie sheet, they will not grow that much in width, but rather in height, making them look better. It is important that you set a lot of time to make this cake. The longer you let it grow, the fluffier it will be in the end. Enjoy this Stollen recipe.

stollen recipe