Stollen wreath

Stollen wreath

BBC Good Food's show-stealing December 08 cover recipe - perfect if you fancy a change from the usual Christmas cake

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Cuts into 20-22 slices

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 25 mins

PREP 40 mins + 1 hr 15 mins -1 hr 45 mins rising
Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Can be frozen uniced

Method

  1. Mix the raisins, cranberries and mixed peel in a bowl, pour over the rum, then leave to soak while you make the dough. Tip the flour into a large bowl and stir in ½ tsp salt, the yeast, sugar, nutmeg and lemon zest. Rub the butter in until the mix is like fine crumbs. Warm the milk to hand-hot, then mix into the egg. Pour the milk into the flour mix, then stir with a round-bladed knife to make a soft dough, adding a drop more milk if needed to mop up any dry crumbs in the bottom of the bowl. Gather the dough into a ball, then knead for 3-4 mins on a lightly floured surface. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave until the dough has risen to double the size (about 45 mins-1 hr).
  2. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times, then roll out to a rectangle about 37cm x 17cm. Stir the chopped pistachios into the soaked fruits, then spread one-third of the fruit mix down the centre of the dough, leaving all the edges uncovered. Fold each side into the centre to overlap slightly. Press the edges with the rolling pin to seal, turn the dough, then repeat the rolling out and spreading of the fruit twice more. Roll out to a final rectangle that is 55cm x 16cm. Roll the marzipan into a sausage shape, so it's slightly shorter than the length of the dough. Place it down the centre. Roll the dough over the marzipan, then turn the dough over so the join is underneath. Lift onto a buttered baking sheet, then curl the dough round a buttered 12cm round cake tin (see tip, below), brushing the ends with a little beaten egg and pinching them well together to seal.
  3. Cover and leave to rise for 30-45 mins or until puffy and doubled in size. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/ gas 5. When the dough has doubled, brush with beaten egg and bake for about 25 mins until golden. Cool on the baking sheet briefly, then transfer to a wire rack.
  4. Make up the icing. Stir 2-3 tsp water into the fondant icing sugar and, when the stollen has cooled, drizzle the icing over. Scatter over the extra cranberries and pistachios and decorate with holly.
Try

Top tip

If you don't have a 12cm round cake tin for making the central hole in the stollen, use an 800g empty clean food can (the hole will be slightly smaller).

PER SLICE (FOR 20)

292 kcalories, protein 6g, carbohydrate 49g, fat 9 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 0g, sugar 28g, salt 0.28 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Heather

    20 November 2008

    Heather commented on this recipe

    Would be useful to be able to see the 'tip' - it's not on the recipe and also a 12 cm tin is ridiculously small! What's the correct size?

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  • Binder photo Helen

    21 November 2008

    Helen commented on this recipe

    This is gorgeous. It was a real hit with my family. Everyone loved it. It looks so pretty and festive with the cranberries and pistachios. A treat for the eyes and very appetising. I will definately be making it again for Christmas.

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  • Binder photo Judie Holliday

    21 November 2008

    Judie Holliday rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    The rating is for a first attempt. I didn't have a proper sized ring, so baked it without and the centre wasn't entirely cooked, but wasn't raw either. Also, the fruit was a bit wet - next time, I'd either soak the fruit for longer or drain it before I add it in. Finally, 300g of Marzipan made an enormous sausage and I felt it was a bit much. I might either use less marzipan next time or roll two thinner sausages. Having said all that - for a first attempt at a difficult recipe, it still tastes fantastic and I'll be making it again before Christmas. I may update my rating after the next attempt!

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  • Binder photo patricia

    28 November 2008

    patricia commented on this recipe

    the 12 cm tin is used to form the hole in the middle not the whole stollen. The stollen is wrapped around the 12 cm tin not put in it.

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  • Binder photo kal

    15 December 2008

    kal rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This tastes amazing! It was quite easy too. Took on board the review about the fruit being wet and left the fruit in the rum for a couple of days in the fridge. Tasted really boozy then! Also, found brandy marzipan and used that instead, which worked well.

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  • Binder photo JoFo

    17 December 2008

    JoFo rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I, too, found the fruit too wet, and it ended up "bursting" through the back of the dough during Stage 2, which then made it really difficult to shape. I couldn't get it to stick in the ring shape, either (I used up a lot of egg!) - next time I make it, I will leave it as a sausage... (though there will definitely be a next time of making it!!)

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  • Binder photo AEJ

    18 December 2008

    AEJ rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Really good fun to make - though time-consuming. At first attempt struggled to get the ring to meet - it almost was a horseshoe, but after careful squidging it worked although in the end it was a little lopsided.... I would definitely recommend making it too long as I think this was my downfall to making it a perfect ring. Still looks really good though.... Very satisfying though, and looks really good.

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  • Binder photo Vicky

    22 December 2008

    Vicky rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I've already made this stollen twice and both times it has been given the big thumbs up. Needed to make sure the dough was rolled into a rectangle during the folding stage to make sure there was enough shape at the end to fold round the tin, so the circle didn't thin out at where the ends met. Definately worthwhile making and feeds a very large crowd

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  • Binder photo Mary

    29 December 2008

    Mary rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this instead of the traditional Christmas cake and just the making was such fun!! I can't think in metric so my measurements were out by quite a lot. I found that I would like a bit more marzipan as its quite thin in some palces. Will surely make this again but maybe half the quantities. I can see us eating this well into the New Year!!

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  • Binder photo Mum cooking

    30 December 2008

    Mum cooking commented on this recipe

    This looked fantastic but the big roll of marzipan in the middle was too much - next time I will use less marzipan or chop it up & mix it in with the fruit.

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  • Binder photo kjohnson

    05 January 2009

    kjohnson rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    quite fiddly though did look stunning when it turned out and was decorated.

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  • Binder photo jo62

    12 February 2009

    jo62 commented on this recipe

    Totally stole the show at Christmas . Looked and tasted fabulous .It was very satisfying to make and l will definitely be making it again.

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  • Binder photo Topcattips

    13 May 2009

    Topcattips rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was a fabulous recipe as a seasoned cook & maker of celebration cakes I found the recipe easy & adapted the fruit as my sister hates mixed peel!! It froze beautifully & looked stunning put out for tea on Boxing Day and tasted divine. What was left kept really well in an air tight tin too. Definitely on the list for next Christmas!

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  • Binder photo janet

    30 June 2009

    janet rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I do not have a very good track record with yeast cookery so it was with a little trepidation that I tackled this recipe. I followed it to the letter and well................my faith in my ability has been restored! It was gorgeous and looked fabulous as well. I will be making this for Christmas this year if this trial run is anything to go by. My only question ,though I am not sure if the end result could be any better, is when the recipe says for you to knead 2-3 times what exaclty does that mean? Do you need to allow it to rise again between each additional kneading?

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  • Binder photo janet

    05 July 2009

    janet commented on this recipe

    Just made this for a second time and decided to 'dice' the marzipan so that it is spread throughout the stollen particularly when it is sliced otherwise you do get somewhat of a 'lump' through the middle. I also soaked the fruit in a little more rum and overnight and whereas last time I used an empty food tin for the centre I bought a cake tin which made the ring wider but each slice smaller. I will be making this again as above for Christmas this year, I just hope freezing doesnt spoil it.

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  • Binder photo Youhumit

    08 November 2009

    Youhumit rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I halved the ingredients to make this more manageable (and save the calories in the tum!). Like a previous reviewer, have incorporated the marzipan in with the mix: actually chiiled it then grated it to scatter on the rolled out mix. Also, soaked fruit in brandy, overnight, and added much more nutmeg to give a greater taste of Christmas! My tips: 1) Leave even longer to rise (before baking) after shaping into tin (3/4 - 1 hour min) 2) Be sure to coat the end joins of the wreath with egg to prevent a split when removing from tin. 3) drizzle a little brandy over the cake well before icing for added warmth! This cake works weel without the (expensive) pistacios; also have tried substituting raisins for choped dates - which are even tastier. Make the fondant icing really thick (v. little water) before drizziling on cake. It will be much admired.

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  • Binder photo Clive

    19 December 2009

    Clive rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My daughter and I made this delicious stollen cake, it was easy to make. We used a circle cake tin we had in the cuboard. The wreath looks good with a bit of holly for decoration - will definately be making this again. :)

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  • Binder photo JoAnna Stellini

    29 December 2009

    JoAnna Stellini rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo MM

    20 November 2010

    MM rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My first attempt and it came out perfect. This recipe is very simple and easy. The hardest thing was finding the huge list of ingredients! My mum is german and she said it was the best stollen cake she'd ever had so anyone looking for an authentic recipe...look no further.

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  • Binder photo cheesecakechick

    25 November 2010

    cheesecakechick commented on this recipe

    made some changes as I went along according to taste (used marsala for the booze, for example) - first try, came out absolutely fabulous. got demolished in seconds, despite being part of a large buffet, and everyone demanded the recipe. plus it froze really well - made it two weeks in advance and then left it to defrost overnight. just a note - I used much less marzipan as I'm not a great fan, so my 'marzipan sausage' was a lot thinner, and actually entirely preferable. The whole experience was a lot less sugar-dominated and more like an almond-tinted danish pastry than a marzipan loaf.

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Cuts into 20-22 slices

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 25 mins

PREP 40 mins + 1 hr 15 mins -1 hr 45 mins rising
Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Can be frozen uniced

Ingredients

  • 85g raisins
  • 50g dried cranberries , plus extra to decorate
  • 100g carton mixed peel
  • 4 tbsp dark rum
  • 550g strong white bread flour
  • 2 x 7g sachets easy-bake yeast
  • 50g golden caster sugar
  • pinch nutmeg
  • zest 1 lemon
  • 85g butter , cut into pieces
  • 250ml milk
  • 1 egg , beaten, plus extra beaten egg to glaze
  • 50g pistachios , peeled and chopped, plus extra, sliced, to decorate
  • 300g marzipan (bought or homemade)
  • 100g fondant icing sugar
  • holly sprig, to decorate
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PER SLICE (FOR 20)

292 kcalories, protein 6g, carbohydrate 49g, fat 9 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 0g, sugar 28g, salt 0.28 g

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