Christmas stollen cake recipe (Quarkstollen)

This Christmas stollen cake is an easy version of the classic German recipe. Full of candied fruit and nuts, it’s incredibly delicious

This easy Christmas stollen cake recipe captured my heart many years ago. I love it for the ease of preparation and incredible flavor.

Quarkstollen is a no yeast sweet bread (it uses baking powder instead).  You won’t need long kneading and rising as well! In addition, you can slice and eat it as soon as it’s cooled! (Unlike the classic version, which needs to age for at least 3 weeks).

How I love… Love, no… LOVE this magical pre-holiday period! The whole world, waiting for a miracle, becomes (even if just a little) kinder and warmer.

Pre-Christmas chores, as a rule, are associated with decorating houses and Christmas trees, buying gifts for family and friends, and planning a holiday menu; depending on the country and traditions, people bake a German Christmas stollen cake, Italian panettone, Ukrainian kalach, Czech vanochka…

And then the celebrations begin with carols, delicious dishes, pleasant conversations at the table, Christmas fairs… Festive colored lights decorate the streets and houses, the air is filled with the smell of a Christmas tree, tangerines, gingerbread, honey, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and the taste of air acquires ginger piquancy and candied fruit sweetness!

What is a stollen cake?

Stollen cake is a sweet bread that is eaten around Christmas time in Germany. It has an extremely rich flavor and unique texture.

A modern Christmas stollen is a sweet bread or cake that contains a large amount of butter, various types of candied fruit, raisins, zest, and even marzipan.

However, during the Middle Ages, everything was much simpler… in those days, stollen was eaten during the Nativity Fast, so no butter was added to it, and the dough was prepared only with flour, water, and oil.

Obviously, such bread did not arouse much enthusiasm among the nobility. Therefore, in the middle of the 14th century, the Saxon Elector Ernst, together with his brother Duke Albrecht, plucked up the courage and wrote a letter to the Pope! In the letter they asked to lift the ban on adding butter to the stollen cake, but… they were refused.

Everything changed after 41 years. During this time, a new Pope was elected, and finally, the Vatican sent the “butter letter”, which allowed baking stollen with butter (although those who ate this butter cake during fasting had to donate for the construction of the Freiberg Cathedral – thus the Pope united the pleasant with the useful).

Over time, the German stollen cake turned into a real gastronomic treasure. People’s tastes became pickier, so they decided to add candied fruit, nuts, and raisins to the stollen dough. And some even added marzipan. So a simple lean bread turned into an incredibly tasty cake!

Quarkstollen

Today there are many stollen recipes: Dresdner Stollen (the most famous type of this Christmas pastry); Mandelstollen (with almonds); Mohnstollen (with poppy seeds); Nuss-stollen (with nuts)…

There is also a stollen cake with chocolate drops (in this case marzipan is added to the dough).

But my favorite is the Quarkstollen. It’s one of the easiest and at the same time one of the most delicious Christmas stollen recipes.

The dough is so pleasant to work with that you’ll want to knead and bake a large portion at once! The most difficult thing is to resist and not start eating this yummy right away! (I hide the ready-made cake for a few weeks from my children, husband, and myself in the bread box to age before eating).

The advantage of Quarkstollen is that it does not need to age for a whole month, as is in the case of the classic yeast stollen cake. Quarkstollen cake can be eaten immediately. But if you still have the patience to keep it in a cool place to age for at least a few days, believe me, its taste will only benefit from this. Well… if you leave the Quarkstollen to age for a week or two, then it will become simply amazing!

Useful tips

Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. This recipe for stollen cake is very easy and simple. It’s much easier to make than you think.

• Traditionally, Quark cheese is added to the dough for this cake. You can replace it with ricotta or cottage cheese (blend it).
• Before baking, remove the raisins and cranberries that stick out of the cake (or press them into the dough) to avoid burning.
• Never replace butter with margarine in this recipe. It will spoil the flavor and texture.
• Use your homemade marzipan for stollen. It will take any pastry to the highest level. By the way, homemade marzipan is super quick and easy to make!
• I highly recommend using a digital scale instead of cups and spoons. Especially when it comes to baking recipes. A scale gives you far more accurate results than volume measurements (everyone scoops ingredients differently).

Ingredients

(This recipe makes 2 large loaves)

• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp (250 g) butter at room temperature
• 1 cup + 3 Tbsp (250 g) sugar
• 2 eggs
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 3 Tbsp (50 ml) orange juice
• 4 cups (650 g) flour
• 2 ¼ tsp (10 g) baking powder
• 1 cup (250 g) ricotta or Quark cheese
• vanilla
• 40 z (100 g) of raisins (no need to soak them in water)
• 2 ½ Tbsp (40ml) cognac or rum
• 4 oz (100g) candied orange
• 4 oz (100g) almonds (chop them)
• 4 oz (100g) dried cranberries
• ¼ cup (90g) melted butter and powdered sugar for sprinkling the finished stollen
• 17 oz (490g) marzipan (optional, but if you add it to the Christmas stollen, it turns out even tastier)

How to make stollen cake

Place the raisins and cranberries in a bowl. Pour the cognac or rum over them, mix and leave for 2 hours to soak

Mix the soft butter with sugar (or beat it with a mixer). Add the eggs to the butter and mix well again

Add ricotta or quark, grated orange zest and orange juice. Mix again

Add the flour, vanilla and baking powder. Stir with a spoon. Chop the almonds.

Add candied fruits, raisins and cranberries to the dough, along with the alcohol that we added to them, and chopped almonds. Knead the dough (if it is very sticky, add a little more flour)

Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Give each part the shape of an oval bread loaf. Press each “loaf” with your hands into an oval

Divide the marzipan into two identical parts, roll each piece into a log (it should be the length of the oval) and place it on the dough (almost in the middle, a little closer to one side)

First fold one side of the dough over to cover the marzipan, then do the same with the second side (fold it over on top of the first side) and press it a little to close the seal

Seal the edges of the loaf. Place both stollen on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 1 hour at 350F (180C) until golden

Then remove the finished stollen from the oven and brush them with melted butter. Immediately sprinkle the top generously with powdered sugar

How to store Quarkstollen

When the cake cools down, wrap it in foil and leave it to age in a cool place (not in the refrigerator! … in the bread box, for example) for at least one week (as I wrote above, the Quarkstollen is not only very tasty, but also very “comfortable”, because it does not need to age for a long time). Classic yeast stollen should be left to age for at least 1 month. This will make this Christmas bread even more fragrant, moist and delicious.

FAQ

I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a festive mood, may the hope of a miracle never leave you. Let this flavorful Christmas stollen cake make your days even sweeter! And most importantly, in the pre-Christmas rush, don’t forget about the real birthday boy…

Tried this recipe? Please leave a comment with Star Ratings ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. I will really appreciate it.
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