Getting in the Festive Spirit!

Until Christmas last year I had never tried Stollen. One day in December 2012 my workmate brought some in that she didn't want and as they say the rest is history.  

So this year I decided it was time for me to return the favor. Suffice to say it went down pretty well at work and also at my parents house when I took round the leftovers.
Now, this Stollen does keep quite well (I've been eating it for my elevenses for most of the week) but is best eaten on the day of baking. Also, the recipe says that this will make a 'large' loaf. For 'large' see 'absolutely gargantuan'! It can easily feed 12!

The recipe is taken from Ed Kimber's Say it with Cake, with a few of my own adjustments and ingredient switch ups.

Stollen

250ml milk

100g butter

500g strong bread flour

1 tablespoon mixed spice

50g golden caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

7g fast action yeast

1 large egg

150g raisins

25g chopped glace cherries

25g halved almonds

200g golden marzipan

50g melted butter for glazing

icing sugar for dusting

Firstly put the milk and butter in a pan over a low heat until the butter has melted. Allow this to cool until it is lukewarm. (This is important, if you don't let it cool you will kill your yeast!)

In a large bowl mix in the flour, mixed spice, sugar, salt and yeast together, making sure to put the salt and yeast on separate sides of the bowl (salt will kill your yeast too). Then pour in your milk and butter and work together with a wooden spoon and then your hands to form a soft dough. 

Turn this out onto a floured work surface and knead for 15 minutes or until you have formed a smooth, elastic dough. 

Then flatten the dough out and sprinkle over the fruit and almonds. Knead until the fruit is all evenly distributed. 

Lightly oil a bowl, plop your dough inside, clover with clingfilm and leave in a consistently warm place until the dough has doubled in size. (My flat is freezing during the day in the winter so I find the best place is actually in the oven on the lowest setting possible for an hour).  

Once risen turn out onto a floured surface and lightly knead to knock some of the air out. It should look all stringy and holey underneath. Since this dough is very soft it is now best to press it out (instead of rolling) to a large rectangle. About 25 x 30cm. 

Take your marzipan and roll out to a sausage of the same length as your dough rectangle. Place this in the middle of your dough and fold the dough over, pressing it around all sides to seal the edges. 

Now the challenging bit. Gently lift the dough onto a large baking sheet lined with baking parchment. (This was mildly terrifying, but its very forgiving dough! Also it's a loaf, so it really doesn't matter if it looks a little messy!)

Place back in your warm place for 30 mins or until it has grown in size. 

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 190C/374F. 

Before you put the loaf in the oven brush with half of the melted butter. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the loaf is browned and there is a hollow sound when you tap the bottom. Keep an eye on it towards the end of the cooking time as it will turn quickly. 

Allow your loaf to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then brush with the remaining melted butter and dust with icing sugar. 

Leave to cool completely before eating. 

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Katie x

A Classic Challenge!

I think I literally jumped in at the deep end with this one. Until last Christmas I had never even tried marzipan, and I had never eaten a Battenburg, talk about make one. After a little bit of research (Wikipedia...) I was disappointed to learn that the origin of Battenburg cake is unknown. So sadly, there's no interesting fact about it, other than it's a teatime classic.

Half of the challenge of this cake is the construction, and trying to keep it neat. But it can be done and have no fear, this post will be picture heavy! This recipe makes two cakes, which when you make this for the first time is a blessing. It means you can work out how to do it on the first cake without worrying too much about keeping it tidy. My second cake was a dream!

I used Edd Kimber's recipe for this as a guide.

Battenburg Cake

Ingredients
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
275g caster sugar
185g unsalted butter
235g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
red and yellow gel food colouring
500g marzipan
170g raspberry jam

Stick the oven on and pre-heat to 180C/160F and line a 23 x 33cm brownie pan with baking parchment, creating a divide down the centre. 
Put the eggs, vanilla & almond extract and 70g sugar in a large bowl. Whisk using a machine or by hand until the eggs are thick and fall from the whisk slowly in a ribbon, adding the remaining sugar as you go.
In another bowl mix the softened butter, flour and baking powder. Add a quarter of the egg mixture, and combine, then add a little more, and combine. Continue until all the egg and flour mixture are combined. 
Then divide the mixture equally between two bowls and add a small amount of food colouring to each (gel food colouring is potent, so be careful not to overdo it!) Pour the yellow mixture into one half of the prepared tin and the pink batter into the other. 
Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, or until a cocktail stick comes out from the centre of the cake clean. 
Allow to cool completely before the construction!

Once cool, trim the edges of the cakes (including the top if it forms a skin), then cut the cakes length-ways into four equal sized pieces. You should then have 8 pieces in total, 4 yellow and 4 pink. 

Now divide your marzipan into 2 and roll out each piece (dusting the surface with icing sugar), ensuring each piece is long enough for the length and width of the cake. 
Brush the marzipan with the jam and stack the cakes, coating each side with a layer of jam. (Don't forget to alternate the colours).
Finally, roll the remaining marzipan around the cake and trim the excess length (as close to the cake as you can). Cut a slice off each end to create a neat finish (and eat the scraps). 
Repeat with the second cake. 

The result will be two Battenburg Cake's, a slice of which go perfectly with a cup of tea!

Good Luck!

Katie 

x