Baked stollen pudding
I’m a bit of a sucker for a bargain. I mean, who isn’t? There I was, bustling through Wynyard station when I noticed a $1 sign in my peripheral vision at some little place that sells chocolates, nuts and dried fruits. Two baskets loaded with loaves of marzipan stollen sat front and centre – $1 per loaf due to being close to their use-by date.
I grabbed four and froze them as soon as I got home.
It may be a traditional German Christmas fruit cake, but nothing’s to stop me from cooking a Christmas-style dessert at the end of summer in Sydney.
Stollen pudding, anyone?
With fresh figs wafting about the markets, beckoning me to buy them, I thought it was a given to bring some into the picture.
How about some salted macadamias, as well?
The stollen may be the hero in this rather unattractive-yet-decadent pudding, but it’s the salty crunch of the macadamias and sweet baked figs that bring it all together.
| Servings |
servings
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- 2 500 g loaves marzipan stollen cut into 1.5cm slices
- 6 eggs
- 600 ml cream
- 200 ml milk
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ tbsp vanilla paste
- 1 tsp cardamom
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 200 g roasted & salted macadamias coarsely chopped
- 70 g palm sugar grated
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp treacle or maple syrup
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 fresh figs halved lengthways
Ingredients
Pudding
Praline
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- Lay and overlap the slices of stollen in a 6 centimeter-deep baking dish lined with baking paper, and greased with butter or cooking spray.
- Place the remaining ingredients into a mixing bowl and lightly whisk to combine. Pour the batter over the sliced stollen, pressing down gently with your fingers so that every piece gets soaked. Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the stollen and place a board or plate on top to help submerge the stollen. Refrigerate for at least four hours to allow the stollen to absorb the batter.
- Place all praline ingredients, except the figs, into a mixing bowl. Using your fingers, rub the mixture together until well incorporated. Add the figs and very gently coat them with the mixture, being careful not to bruise them.
- Remove the stollen from the fridge and discard the plastic wrap.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Remove the figs from the praline mixture and set aside. Scatter the praline mixture evenly over the stollen, then stack the figs down the centre. Bake for 50 minutes until lightly golden and set.
- Serve hot or at room temperature with double cream or ice cream.
