Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread. Sometimes, because the bread has such a rich texture and is so packed with fruit, it is described as a cake or a fruitcake. It starts with a yeasted dough that is sweetened with sugar or honey and enriched with butter, to give it a soft texture. Spices or fruit zest are often added to the dough, as are nuts, dried fruits and candied fruits. The dough is wrapped around a log of marzipan before baking. It is traditionally shaped into a oblong loaf, but as stollen become more popular (as gift items, here in the US), you can sometimes see them in other shapes. The finished loaf is generously dusted with confectioner sugar before being sliced and served.
Stollen is sweet and rich, but not as sweet as a regular Christmas cake or a plate full of sugar cookies. Unlike another traditional Christmas bread, panettone, it can be quite heavy, so it is best served in smaller slices where you can enjoy all the flavors in the loaf without being overwhelmed by too much marzipan in one go.
I got my first glimpse of this cake on the cover of Sunset Magazine about three years ago. With crushed peppermints enveloping the entire cake, it was quite a sight to behold – and so festive for the holiday season! I saved the picture and have been meaning to make it ever since. With my surplus of candy canes this year, I knew it had to be on my list.
I baked an angel food cake using my Perfect Angel Food Cake recipe and set it aside to cool completely. This cake isn’t exactly frosted. It is actually covered in whipped cream. Whipped cream, made from scratch, is a great way top top off an angel food cake. It is very light, like the cake itself is, and so it doesn’t weigh it down. It is also not too sweet, and since angel food cakes are on the sweet side to begin with, this makes for a good balance. I whipped up the cream right before serving this cake and recommend that you do the same, as even with refrigeration it is not a particularly stable topping (meaning it can’t be made a day in advance). I didn’t find this to be much of a problem because the cake is very light and easy to eat in large pieces, so as long as you have a crowd you should get through it in no time at all.
The candy canes are crushed and pressed gently into the whipped cream. Sunset covered the entire cake, while I opted just to do the sides. The more red your candy canes are, the more contrast you’ll have in the finished cake.
A storebought angel food cake will work in a pinch if you don’t have time to make one from scratch. I suspect that you could also get away with using thawed whipped topping (i.e. Cool Whip) in place of the whipped cream. I would not recommend using canned whipped cream because it is not stable enough. Starting from scratch with heavy whipping cream is the way to go.
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Bites from other Blogs doesn’t usually get a theme, but with Christmas only two days away this week, I can’t resist making sure that there is a good collection of holiday goodies here.
- Anne’s Food has some light and sweet Pepperint Meringues that probably go great with hot chocolate.
- Peabody‘s Mini Gingerbread Men Cupcakes with Grand Marnier Glaze are decadent, and great for those who aren’t fans of traditional gingerbread.
- Speaking of gingerbread, Simply Recipes has a tutorial to help you Make A Gingerbread House. Alternatively, you could use Not Martha‘s directions for a miniature house, too.
- Buche de Noel, which resembles a log (but is made out of roulade and chocolate frosting) is a Christmas Classic and Zoe Bakes‘ version is lovely.
- Christmas Cake Balls, which Spork or Foon made, are balls of red velvet cake (from a mix, so it’s easy) dipped in white chocolate. Truffles can’t get much more festive looking with these colors.
- A more traditional candy can be found in Butcher, Baker‘s Snowball Truffles, which have a center made with dark chocolate and sweetened condensed milk and are dipped in white chocolate.
- Linzer cookies are another traditional cookie. Bake This, Eat That came up with a Gluten Free Linzer Cookie that is just as good as the original. Hers use almonds, but other ground nuts, like hazelnuts, make for a good variation.
I tend to make some of the same cookies every year, no matter what else I bake for my cookie plate. These include Peppermint Cookies n’ Cream Brownies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and gingersnaps, though I’m adding Chocolate Gingersnaps to my list this time around.
Other holiday favorites from me include Homemade Eggnog, Double Chocolate Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Apple Cider, Homemade Drinking Chocolate and Gingerbread Lattes.
Around Christmas time, I tend to have a surplus of peppermint candy canes lying around. They also last well into the new year because they keep very well (and go on sale after the holidays!). I like this about candy canes because if you’re a fan of peppermint, they make fantastic coffee stirs and it’s nice to have them around to infuse a little flavor into an otherwise plain cup of coffee.
This Double Chocolate Peppermint Mocha – inspired by the various peppermint-infused drinks I’ve had from coffee shops this season – is far from plain, however. It is a rich, creamy hot chocolate made with both dark and white chocolate. Milky white chocolate really adds a creaminess to the drink, while the dark chocolate makes for a very deep chocolate flavor. Truthfully, I rarely measure out any of the ingredients when I’m going to make up a batch of this drink. I just add a bit of white chocolate, a bit of dark chocolate and add more if I feel I need to. I recommend adopting the same strategy so you can make this at a moment’s notice, but use the recipe below as a jumping off point. Don’t forget to use the candy cane as a stirring stick to really infuse that peppermint flavor. It also adds some extra sweetness to the mocha, and most candy canes have a better flavor than simply adding in peppermint extract.
I garnish this with whipped cream and crushed peppermint, but a candy cane alone is a nice touch. A mini candy cane makes a cute garnish as well, especially if you want to double or triple the recipe for a bigger crowd.
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Spices are at their best when they are fresh. I find that this is especially true of nutmeg, a spice that is often called for in baking in only small amounts. Its delicate, peppery flavor begins to dissipate shortly after it has been grated and you won’t get the same result with previously ground nutmeg. Whole nutmegs are easy to find in most grocery and kitchen stores and can keep for years in a cool, dark place, so all you need to have is a grater on hand and you can have fresh nutmeg for a batch of eggnog anytime!You can use a microplane to grate nutmeg, but I really like nutmeg mills for this spice. Nutmeg mills are built to both store whole nutmegs and grind them. They’re usually round and have a handle on top, which turns whole nutmegs against a blade to grind out just as much as you need at a time. A few turns of the handle and you have plenty of fresh, spicy nutmeg for most recipes. I like the fact that mills store the whole nutmegs, so it’s very convenient to just pull my mill out of my cabinet when I need it and I don’t need to look for either a bottle of nutmegs or a microplane – plus, there is nothing to clean after using.
