Preparation
- Wash the sultanas, drain well and put them in a lidded tin with the rum. Leave to soak for at least 24 hours, shaking occasionally, until the rum has been absorbed.
- On baking day, put the flour in a bowl, make a well, crumble in the yeast and add the milk. Stir from the well with just enough flour to make a soft starter dough, cover with the remaining flour and leave to rise for 30 to 90 minutes, until the volume has increased noticeably and the flour surface is cracked.
- Pour boiling water over the chopped almonds, leave for 5 minutes and drain well.
- Add the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and lemon zest to the starter dough, knead everything to a smooth dough and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
- Knead in the sultanas, almonds, candied lemon peel and candied orange peel; if the dough is too wet, add a little flour. Shape the dough into an elongated stollen.
- Preheat the oven to 180 to 200 °C (conventional). Place the stollen on a cold baking tray lined with baking paper, brush with cold water and put it in the oven without further proving; lower the temperature to 170 °C immediately.
- Bake for about 60 minutes, until the stollen is golden brown and baked through; if it gets too dark it dries out.
- Brush the hot stollen with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Leave it to cool on the tray in the cooled oven and do not move it, as it is still very fragile.
- The next day, dust generously with the mixture of icing sugar and cornflour, wrap well and leave to mature for 2 to 3 days; it tastes best after a week.
Drink with it
Sherry-cask whisky · excellent match
Sherry cask whisky (12 to 15 years), neat or with a drop of water
Raisin, nut and spice notes from the sherry cask meet the rum sultanas and almonds, and the alcohol carries the generous butter.
What Does the Cask Do to Whisky?Fortified wine · excellent match
Tawny port (10 years) or Oloroso dulce
Nutty, caramelly dried-fruit notes mirror the almonds and sultanas, and the sweetness of the wine stands level with the sugar coating.
Port wine: understanding Ruby, Tawny, and VintageCognac and brandy · good match
Cognac VSOP, neat
Vanilla and dried fruit from the cask suit the butter, candied lemon peel and candied orange peel.
Cognac and Armagnac: Two Origins for BrandyAged rum · good match
Aged rum (añejo), neat
The same spirit as in the sultanas: vanilla and raisin notes form a direct bridge.
Drinking rum neat: how to get to know a bottling
Why it pairs well
With stollen one thinks more of mulled wine or fortified wine; a sherry cask whisky instead mirrors the raisins, nuts and spice of the bake and carries its butter richness.