Consider Christollen, a Modern Fruitcake & Christmas Dessert (2024)
Originally a mixture of pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and barley formed into a doughnut-shaped cake, fruitcakes have been a Christmas “delicacy” since Roman times. Today’s fruitcake dates back to the Middle Ages, when dried fruit, honey and spices were added to the Roman cake as a way to preserve the fruit. This Christmas, very few East End bakeries are offering fruitcakes (for the obvious reasons).
Some bakeries, however, are offering a traditional German fruit bread called stollen, short for christollen. What’s the difference between this German bread and fruitcake, you ask? The most obvious difference is in its shape. Stollen is formed in an oval to represent baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes, contrary to the doughnut or untraditional loaf shape of a fruitcake. Additionally, stollen is much less dense than fruitcake, though it does contain similar candied fruits and nuts. If you are curious to taste high-end fruitcake or its German counterpart this Christmas season, head to one of these three East End bakeries before they sell out!
The Blue Duck Bakery is one of the only North Fork bakeries to offer both fruitcake and stollen. The secret to their fruit mixture is that they soak figs, dates, currants, raisins, citrons, pecans and walnuts in whisky for an entire year, balancing the naturally sweet cake with an array of intense flavors. Their stollen is available through the new year and is a popular gift. Greenport hours are Monday, Thursday to Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Southold hours are Wednesday to Friday 8 a.m.–4 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m.–4 p.m. 130 Front Street, Greenport. 56275 Main Road, Southold. 631-333-2060, 631-629-4123, blueduckbakerycafe.com
A quintessential Southampton bakery, Ye Olde Bake Shoppe offers a traditional German stollen made with the baker’s grandmother’s original recipe. Their stollen is no ordinary dessert, as they soak their candied fruits and almonds in rum for days prior to the baking. The end result — a sweet and delicious bread — makes the wait worth it! They’re open Thursday to Saturday, 8 a.m.–3 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m.–1 p.m. 17 Windmill Lane, Southampton. 631-283-6553
Krieg’s Bakery
Krieg’s bakery touts four generations of authentic German Stollen, made with a dough infused with pure almond paste and featuring many citrus fruits. These include cherries, pineapple, and currants, all of which have been soaked in a bath of alcohol. They’re open Tuesday to Saturday 7 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m.–4 p.m. 39 West Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays. 631-728-6524, kriegsbakeryhb.com
Stollen is formed in an oval to represent baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes, contrary to the doughnut or untraditional loaf shape of a fruitcake. Additionally, stollen is much less dense than fruitcake, though it does contain similar candied fruits and nuts.
Its origins go as far back as the Middle Ages, when dried fruits became more widely available. The cost of ingredients was so high that in the 17th and 18th-century fruitcakes were only made for special occasions, such as weddings and holidays, particularly in Victorian England.
Christmas cakes are also commonly made with pudding while a fruit cake uses butter, however there are Christmas cake recipes that do contain butter. The traditional Scottish Christmas cake, also known as the Whisky Dundee, is very popular.
At first, the cakes were mainly filled with nuts. When sugar became more widely available, candied preserved fruits were added. The addition of sugar made the dessert so “sinfully rich” that the church briefly banned fruitcake in the 1700s.
The fruitcake is commonly eaten during the Christmas season in Canada. Rarely is it seen during other times of the year. The Canadian fruitcake is similar in style to the UK version. However, there is rarely icing on the cake, and alcohol is not commonly put into Christmas cakes that are sold.
These cakes were often presented as centerpieces at grand holiday feasts, symbolizing abundance and prosperity. The art of making fruitcakes also became a cherished tradition passed down through generations, with families often using secret recipes and techniques to create their own signature cakes.
We might like to pretend, based on its name, that fruitcake is a reasonably healthy sweet option, however this is not the case. Fruitcake tends to have high butter, sugar and syrup content, making it high in both fat and calorie content. The same goes for Panettone- the Italian bread that has become a holiday favorite.
Nowadays fruitcakes are a holiday delicacy still prized for their long-lasting freshness. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these seemingly indestructible pastries typically stay fresh for six months in the pantry and up to a year when refrigerated.
Part of the reason this dense, often dry cake has the reputation it does is due to that no one finds that dried fruit in the middle to be appealing. Secondly, the actual cake itself has a minimal flavor and required at least one cup of tea - if not several - in order to get through just a few bites.
Fruitcakes, which often come out around the holidays, are notorious for lasting a long time. They're packed with nuts, spices, and dried fruit, and while many modern and commercial fruitcakes are alcohol-free, traditionally the cake is also soaked in alcohol.
Christmas cake actually started life as plum porridge, designed to line people's stomachs after a day of religious fasting. Soon, other fruits and a dash of honey joined the plums and became the good old Christmas pudding.
Fruitcake is an ancient goody, with the oldest versions a sort of energy bar made by the Romans to sustain their soldiers in battle. The Roman fruitcake was a mash of barley, honey, wine and dried fruit, often pomegranate seeds.
The evolution of the plum cake from porridge and pudding, to what it is now. The story of the plum cake begins in medieval England, where it was a popular tradition to observe a period of self-denial, fasting, and abstinence from every kind of indulgence in the weeks leading to Christmas.
The Fruitcake Special by Frank Brennan Its a story about Anna, a chemist who works in a cosmetic company in USA. She discovers something amazing when she tries putting up a piece of her favourite fruit cake into her chemical mixture to create a new kind of perfume.
A Victorian superstition states that placing a piece of fruit cake under one's pillow will cause a dream of their future spouse. If food is being served at tea-time, the person to take the last piece of cake from the plate will be the first to get married.
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