Dubai Come Friday and you can have a slice of the longest Stollen cake yet in Dubai.
At 570 metres, the traditional German fruitcake will go on sale at the Central Galleria in the Mall of the Emirates. Made by chefs of the Kempinski Hotel, the sale proceeds will be donated to the Dubai Centre for Special Needs.
The annual Stollen charity cake event was introduced in 2006 by the hotel to mark the spirit of charity during the festive period while drawing on its European roots.
at the kempinski kitchen
When XPRESS visited the Kempinski kitchen in the run-up to the big day, around 1,000 loaves of the fruitcake were ready and stacked in the freezer room. Made from flour, marzipan and dried fruits with butter, eggs, yeast, water and the rind of oranges and lemons, the finished cake has a sprinkling of icing sugar as well.
“It is customarily prepared and eaten only during Christmas,” said Sudgi Nadaff, the hotel’s executive chef. “Each of the loaves you see is 60cm long and we will be aligning them to make the 570-metre cake on December 14.” He said 14 chefs have been working on the dry cake over the last few days with “magnificent” quantities of the ingredients. They include 595kg of flour, 175kg of butter for the dough, 31.5kg of yeast, 265kg of raisins, 2,100 eggs, 105 litres of milk, 52kg of marzipan, 125kg of oranges and 114kg of lemons for their peel and 87kg of almonds. “The raisins, almonds and orange and lemon peels are kept soaked in orange juice for two to three days,” said Nadaff.
Although the traditional cake in Germany contains alcohol, this Stollen will not use liquor. The dry cake can be kept for up to two weeks without spoiling.
Good staff
By December 14, the 400-plus staff of the Kempinski will all have taken part in the charity event, some before the actual sale and others during the sale itself. “They will be taking turns,” said Nadaff.
The price of the cake will be the same as last year — Dh5 for a slice and Dh100 for a loaf. The size of the cake has grown over the years from 250 metres in 2006 to 480 metres in 2011 and 570 metres this year. The event has managed to raise over Dh190,918 for the Dubai Centre for Special Needs in these years.
