LEFTOVER STOLLEN? - STOLLEN TORTE WITH BLUEBERRIES

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Left to his own devices while working on some projects, the best of all husbands didn't want to spend much time on cooking or going into restaurants. But men have to eat, especially if they are tiling and putting up sinks, so he went to the supermarket and grabbed a piece of stollen, a leftover from Christmas (and heavily discounted!) 

Most of it he brought home (who can live of stollen for a sustained time?) and there it was, waiting for eager eaters, where there were only people who, after the holidays, were "stollened-out" for the rest of the year. 

Stollen leftover, ready for recycling

St. Honoré, the patron saint of bakers, must have heard my weary sigh, when I saw this Stollen of Christmas Past.

The very next day I found in my blog list a post by master baker Wolfgang Süpke: the leftovers Stollen Torte!

Having a smaller piece of stollen, I downsized the recipe from 28 cm/11" diameter to 21 cm/9".

Since the store bought stollen was quite sweet, I reduced the sugar a bit, and added some lemon and vanilla.

And, living in Maine, I used (frozen) wild blueberries instead of a preserve (and doubled the amount.) The quark in the filling I substituted with cream cheese.

We liked the torte very much. The sweetness of the stollen bottom was balanced by the berries and slightly lemony cream filling.

Stollen Torte looks nice with a simple blueberry topping, too

STOLLEN TORTE  (adapted from Wolfgang Süpke)
(12 servings)

Cake
560 g/20 oz blueberries, fresh or frozen (I used wild Maine blueberries)
420 g/15 oz stollen, cut in thick slices (1.5 cm/0.6")
130 g/4.5 oz sugar
17 g/0.6 oz gelatin powder
56 g/2 oz cold water
225 g/8 oz whipping or heavy cream, at room temperature
225 g/8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
225 g/8 oz low fat yogurt, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. lemon juice, or more to taste
2 tsp. lemon zest, or more to taste

Frosting and decoration
1/2 cup whipping or heavy cream
blueberries

Cook blueberries with 20 g of the sugar, until they break down, and the liquid is reduced by about a third (too much juice will leak out of the cake bottom.)

Grease 21-cm cake rim (or ring of a springform pan), then dust with powdered sugar.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Fill ring with stollen slices, filling out holes with smaller pieces.

Fill cake ring with stollen slices

Spoon cooked blueberries evenly over stollen bottom. 

Distribute blueberries over stollen layer

In a small bowl, stir gelatin into the water, and let sit until water is absorbed. Microwave until mixture is dissolved, stirring now and then.

Mix cream cheese filling

Whisk cream until soft peaks form. In second large bowl, mix cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest, until well combined. Stir in whipped cream, mixing well.

Spread filling over blueberries

Temper melted gelatin by adding 3 tablespoons of the cream mixture, one by one, mixing until well combined.(If the gelatin clumps because you didn't work fast enough, briefly nuke it in the microwave again.)

Pour gelatin in cream mixture, stirring until well blended. Pour filling over blueberries, smoothing surface with rubber spatula. Cover, and refrigerate torte overnight.

After removing the ring, the sides have to be frosted

To serve, remove cake ring. Frost sides with whipped cream, then decorate the top. (I made small circles on top and fill them with blueberries.) Or simply sprinkle it with blueberries.

Update 12/30/15: In the meantime, I have made the Stollen Torte with leftover stollen, panettone, and poppy seed stollen - all tasted wonderful!

Stollen Torte with Blueberries