Low Carb Christmas Stollen - Keto Fruit Cake

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

Katrin Nürnberger

from Sugar Free Londoner

This gluten free, low carb stollen is made with almond flour and coconut flour. It has a moist sugar free marzipan filling and gorgeous festive flavours - just like the German original. Even though I am using sultanas in this recipe, one generous slice is only 7.3g net carbs.

5 from 7 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

cooling time 20 mins

Total Time 1 hr 25 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Servings 12

Calories 298 kcal

Note: 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

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 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

7.3g net carbs per slice. Makes 12 generous slices (or 14 regular slices).

***If the dough is too sticky to work with, let it chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. 

You are using the peel and zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon.

It's possible to reduce the net carbs to 5.4g per slice by using ½ cup cranberries and omitting the raisins. 

Store in an airtight container for 1 week or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Alternatively, freeze for up to 3 months. 

 

 

Nutrition

Calories: 298kcalTotal Carbohydrates: 11.5gProtein: 10.1gFat: 24.7gSaturated Fat: 5.1gFiber: 4.2gSugar: 5g

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