Stollen Lardy Cake

The family favourite bake at Christmas is a German stollen. I thought I wouldn't stray too far from the original but made a few tweaks to transform it into a loaf that resembles a lardy cake. I therefore laminated my dough with a mix of lard and butter, brown sugar, lemon zest, ground cardamom, ground cloves, nutmeg, raisins, currants, candied peel and, of course, pieces of marzipan. It is glazed with butter and dusted with icing sugar.

This bake was a near perfect success as the filling incorporated just as I wanted, to produce spirals of layers inside. It was proved for the perfect amount of time to give a lovely light texture. The flavours are also absolutely delicious. However, just one slight issue occurs when slicing into the middle. I neglected to realise quite how large it was when I was baking it therefore the centre is a little undercooked. I am gutted that all that effort came down to 10 or 15 minutes in the oven. But if I ignore this and pretend the middle doesn't exist, it is spot on. A recipe to keep, just a few changes to be made!