For the winter issue of a gourmet magazine, we went to a Dresden stollen bakery in June. The original Dresden Christstollen has an eventful history and the cake is today Saxony’s best-known ambassador of enjoyment. The fact that Dresden Christstollen is so popular also has to do with Augustus the Strong, who, just like us, did not adhere to the Stollen etiquette, according to which one eats the first Christstollen on Christmas Eve.
In the spring of 1730, Elector August had a show-off stollen weighing several tons baked for an oppulent army show. How big, how heavy and how many baker’s servants had to hump for the giant stollen is revealed in our stollen story. In addition, you will learn how to properly prepare a Stollen, how long it should be stored and why it should not be eaten with a fork.
The out-of-order baked Christstollen for the making-of in June was combined by me with strawberries and was a real taste revelation. The excess of powdered sugar could be elegantly wiped off the plate with half a strawberry. But even without summer fruit, the original Dresden Christstollen is a stunner.
At the beginning of October, the more than 100 certified Dresden Stollen bakeries get going again and bake five million Stollen until shortly before Christmas – wonderful! At the Strietzelmarkt, Germany’s oldest Christmas market, there is then a show bakery. Many original Dresden Stollen bakers also offer baking courses. If you can’t make it to Dresden during the Christmas season, you can also have the Christstollen delivered to your home.
