Looking for a keto Christmas cake? You've come to the right place! This low carb stollen is my healthy gluten free version of the traditional stollen recipe. It tastes just as rich, buttery and delicious as the German original!
Stollen is the most traditional Christmas sweet bread in Germany and the festive season would just not be the same without it. I remember how excited I got every year when it appeared in the shops around November.
There are two main versions of this popular holiday fruit cake. One is the classic "Dresdner Christstollen", which is a fruit bread made with a yeast dough and filled with marzipan. The other popular version is the "Quarkstollen", which also contains dried fruit, almonds and spices, but is made with the addition of quark. This makes the stollen super moist.
Carbs in fruit cake
Here's the issue with regular fruit cakes such as stollen: they are extremely high in carbs. Why? Because they are made with wheat flour, regular sugar and with tons of dried fruit. One slice can easily contain between 40 and 60 grams of carbs.
It's definitely not suitable for either a low carb diet or a keto diet!
A keto Christmas cake
To make my low carb stollen bread, I replaced the wheat flour with almond flour and coconut flour. I used sweetener instead of the sugar. And I limited the amount of raisins to a minimum and also used dried cranberries.
This way, I managed to get the carbs down to 7.3g net carbs per generous slice!
Of course, there are other cakes that are lower in carbs. You could decide to forget about making a keto fruit cake recipe altogether and simply serve a keto chocolate cheesecake or this keto pecan pie.
But if you miss stollen or indeed traditional fruit cake, this recipe is going to make yo very, very happy!
Ingredients
Almond flour and coconut flour - I always use ground almonds, which is equivalent to regular almond flour in the US. If you have super-fine almond flour, use ¼ cup less.
Eggs, butter and quark - Quark is a German cooking cheese. You can use Greek yoghurt instead of quark - or even cream cheese.
Sweetener - Allulose, Bocha Sweet or any granulated erythritol monk fruit sweetener blends will work well.
Flaked almonds - for a bit of crunch
For flavour: Orange peel and zest, lemon peel and zest, allspice, Brandy, vanilla extract - Rum will work in place of the Brandy. Lemons and oranges must be unwaxed.
Baking powder and xanthan gum - The xanthan gum is absolutely essential because it helps give a stronger texture. Since our stollen is gluten free and contains only 2 eggs, it is very fragile. I made my first version without xanthan gum and found it too crumbly.
Cranberries - I used freeze dried unsweetened cranberries, which I ordered from Amazon. You could also make my sugar free dried cranberries.
Raisins - In my opinion, a good stollen needs to contain raisins. I only use ¼ cup to keep the carbs in check. However, they do account for 2.6g net carbs per slice. You could use ½ cup dried cranberries and maybe some chopped walnuts or pecans instead to further lower the carbs.
How to make a low carb stollen
Prepare ½ batch of keto marzipan (prepare the recipe with water and not with egg) and set aside. Option to add 1 tsp brandy in the marzipan as well!
Cut off thin slivers of orange and lemon peel (only the coloured part, not the white pith)...
... and chop into very, very fine slices. Grate the rest of the peel from both the lemon and the orange.
Soak the peel and orange zest / lemon zest together with the sultanas, cranberries and flaked almonds in 1 tbsp rum or brandy. Minimum soaking time: 30 minutes, or overnight.
In a bowl using an electric mixer or in a food processor, blend the eggs until frothy, pale and double the size - about 2 minutes. Add the sweetener, quark or Greek yoghurt, vanilla and room temperature butter until smooth.
Now add the dry ingredients - almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, pinch of salt, allspice and baking powder and blend until well-combined.
Last, stir through the sultana and cranberry mix with a spatula.
Now, transfer the dough onto parchment paper and press into a rectangle. Roll the marzipan into a log and place down the middle of the stollen dough.
Lift one side of the parchment paper to fold the dough over the marzipan. Wet your hands and press the stollen into shape, thereby sealing the marzipan into the loaf. Use the image in the post for reference.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Don't insert into the marzipan bit - that's supposed to stay moist! After about 15-20 minutes check the stollen and cover with aluminium paper once it's golden on top to prevent burning.
Remove from the oven and brush your keto fruit bread with melted butter while still warm, then dust with powdered sweetener.
Let cool completely before cutting. Option to dust with more powdered sweetener once fully cooled.
Recipe variations
No marzipan: Low carb stollen will taste just as good without the marzipan filling. If you omit it, consider baking the stollen in a bread pan lined with parchment paper. Baking time may reduce by 5 minutes.
No sultanas: To lower the carbs, swap out the raisins or sultanas with more cranberries.
You wouldn't be calling it a Keto Fruitcake any more, but certainly delicious, too: Replace the raisins with sugar free chocolate chips.
Use more spices: Mixed spice, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves are all spices that would be a good fit for this recipe (and indeed for most cakes you'll age making in December!).
Storage
Store this keto Christmas cake in an airtight container for 1 week or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Alternatively, freeze sliced for up to 3 months.
More low carb recipes for Christmas
We make this low carb Christmas pudding in the microwave!
A German classic X-mas cookie - Zimtsterne aka cinnamon stars.
My homemade keto mince pies are getting rave reviews!
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Low Carb Stollen - Keto Christmas Fruit Cake
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary. ***As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- ½ batch keto marzipan
For the fruit mix
- ¼ cup / 45g sultanas or raisins
- ¼ cup / 8g freeze dried cranberries or dried cranberries (measure in cups as will weigh more)
- ¼ cup / 25g flaked almonds
- 1 tbsp orange peel thinly sliced (grate the rest of the orange zest)
- 1 tbsp lemon peel thinly sliced (grate the remaining lemon zest)
- 1 tbsp brandy
For the dough
- 2 eggs large
- ½ cup / 115g quark or Greek yoghurt
- ⅓ cup / 76g butter
- ⅓ cup / 70g granulated sweetener use ½ cup for a sweeter cake
- 3 cup / 300g almond flour I used ground almonds
- 2 tbsp /16g coconut flour
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp allspice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- powdered sweetener for dusting
Instructions
- Prepare ½ batch of keto marzipan (prepare the recipe with water and not with egg) and set aside.
- Cut off thin slivers of orange and lemon peel (only the coloured part, not the white pith) and chop into very fine slices. Grate the rest of the peel from both the lemon and the orange. Soak the peel together with the sultanas, cranberries and flaked almonds in 1 tbsp rum or brandy. Minimum soaking time: 30 minutes, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
- In a bowl using an electric mixer or in a food processor, blend the eggs until frothy, pale and double the size - about 2 minutes. Add the sweetener, quark or Greek yoghurt, vanilla and room temperature butter until smooth.
- Now add the dry ingredients - almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, pinch of salt, allspice and baking powder and blend until well-combined.
- Last, stir through the sultana and cranberry mix with a spatula.
- Now, transfer the dough onto parchment paper and press into a rectangle ***see notes. Roll the marzipan into a log and place down the middle of the stollen dough.
- Lift one side of the parchment paper to fold the dough over the marzipan. Wet your hands and press the stollen into shape, thereby sealing the marzipan into the loaf. Use the image in the post for reference.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Don't insert into the marzipan bit - that's supposed to stay moist! After about 15-20 minutes check the stollen and cover with aluminium paper once it's golden on top to prevent burning.
- Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter while still warm, then dust with powdered sweetener. Let cool completely before cutting. Option to dust with more powdered sweetener once fully cooled.
Notes
Nutrition
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Shona says
I made this the other day. I doubled the recipe and now have loads of slices for my husband in the freezer. He’s overjoyed that I’ve found a keto recipe which is just as yummy as the Stollen he used to enjoy. Brilliant recipe.
Katrin Nürnberger says
So glad it was a success! Merry Christmas!
Ela says
Hi Katrin,
Hello from Germany and I really love to make this Stollen buuuuut I have a question about the almond flour / ground almonds which you mention to choose in this recipe.
I know that there is a huge difference between
almond flour (Mandelmehl)
and
"ground" almonds (gemahlene Mandeln)
affecting the consistency of the dough and that the amount isn't or shouldn't be the same!?!?
I hope you can help me out and thank you in advance for your reply!!
I'm wishing you and your family happy Holidays/ Frohe Weihnachten from Germany and pls stay safe and sound,
Ela
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Ela, I'm using ground almonds in all my recipes. This is not the defatted almond flour that's sold as Mandelmehl in Germany. Use simply "gemahlene Mandeln". Frohe Weihnachten!
Vanessa says
Oh wow thats super, thanks for the recipe. I will do it for Christmas! Warm greetings from Germany :))
Katrin Nürnberger says
Let me know how you all liked it! Have a great Christmas 🙂
Claire says
It says to bake for about 40 mins but doesn't say what oven temperature to use?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Thank you for spotting this, updated! It's 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
Claire says
Thank you!
Vera says
I love German Stollen.. and was so glad to have found your site with this recipe.
I made it yesterday.. and just had a slice.. IT is so good. I perfer this one over the
traditional ones.. My parents immigrated from Germany so I have eaten many stollen,
and again have to say.. this recipe is better than the ones I have eaten in the past.
so THANk YOU so much for all your efforts in creating this keto Stollen!
My Family Thanks you as well.. 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 2022..
lets hope more people wake up to the truth of what is going on!
Katrin Nürnberger says
Merry Christmas to you as well Vera! Thank you so much for your kind words. Glad you like the stollen!
Elaine Nash says
We have been waiting for this one! We are Brits living in British Columbia, Canada so our tastes, especially at Christmas, are still very European. We have discussed so many times that one day you would come up with a Stollen cake, and now you have. Yet again, a total success. Delicious! Had our first taste today. Love it! Thank you, thank you yet again.
Katrin Nürnberger says
That's so good to hear! I'm really happy you like the recipe.
Jennifer D says
Oh, Katrin! You've made this Canadian-with-German-Roots very, very happy! I just need to get SF dried cran and I Will Be Making This Recipe! Both my hubby and I miss my Stollen.... I resigned myself to nit having it ever again.... Whoohoo! Can hardly wait to try your recipe! Thank you! Thank you!
Katrin Nürnberger says
Keep me posted and come back here once you've made it! I can't wait to hear how it turns out.