This low carb stollen is my healthy gluten-free version of the traditional stollen recipe. A keto Christmas cake that 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.
To make my keto stollen bread, I replaced the wheat with almond and coconut flour. I also used sweetener instead of sugar and replaced some of the raisins with 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, keto pecan pie or keto panettone.
But if you miss stollen or indeed traditional fruit cake, this recipe is going to make you 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. All must be room temperature.
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 zest and peel, allspice, Brandy, vanilla extract - Rum will work in place of the Brandy. Lemons and oranges must be unwaxed. Use only the coloured parts, not the white pith.
Baking powder and xanthan gum - The xanthan gum is 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. You could also make my sugar free dried cranberries.
Raisins - In my opinion, a good stollen needs 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.
Instructions
(This section contains step by step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. Find the recipe card with ingredient amounts and nutritional information at the bottom of the post.)
Step 1: Prepare ½ batch of keto marzipan and set aside. Make the recipe with water and not with egg. Option to add brandy as well.
Step 2: Cut off thin slivers of orange and lemon peel and chop into fine slices. Grate the rest of the peel from both the lemon and the orange.
Step 3: Soak the peel and zest together with the sultanas, cranberries and flaked almonds in rum or brandy. Soak at least 30 minutes, or overnight.
Step 4: In a bowl using an electric mixer or in a food processor, blend the eggs until frothy, pale and double in size. Add the sweetener, quark, vanilla and room temperature butter until smooth.
Step 5: Now add the dry ingredients and blend until well-combined.
Step 6: Last, stir through the sultana and cranberry mix with a spatula.
Step 7: 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.
Step 8: 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.
Step 9: Bake until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Step 10: Remove from the oven and brush your keto fruit bread with melted butter while still warm, then dust with powdered sweetener.
Step 11: Let cool completely before cutting. Option to dust with more powdered sweetener once fully cooled.
Top tip
Don't insert into the marzipan when you test for doneness. It is supposed to stay moist! Also, check the stollen after about 15-20 minutes. Cover with aluminium foil once it's golden on top to prevent burning.
FAQ
One slice of regular fruit cake can easily have 40 to 60 grams of carbs. My keto fruit cake contains just 7.3g net carbs.
Regular fruit cakes are not suitable for a keto diet. They are made with wheat flour, table sugar and lots of dried fruit. This recipe is keto friendly, because I replaced all the high carb ingredients with low carb options.
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.
Yes. It's possible to reduce the net carbs to 5.4g per slice by using ½ cup cranberries and omitting the raisins.Â
Variations
Chocolate chip: Replace the raisins with sugar free chocolate chips.
Use more spices: Mixed spice, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves would all be a good fit for this recipe.
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.
Related recipes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
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 tablespoon orange peel thinly sliced (grate the rest of the orange zest)
- 1 tablespoon lemon peel thinly sliced (grate the remaining lemon zest)
- 1 tablespoon brandy
For the dough
- 2 eggs large, room temperature
- ½ cup / 115g quark or Greek yoghurt, room temperature
- â…“ cup / 76g butter softened
- 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 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 2 tablespoon 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 tablespoon rum or brandy. Minimum soaking time: 30 minutes, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit (electric) or 160C / 320F fan.
- 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 butter. Blend until smooth.Â
- 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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Elle
This is the first stollen recipe I've tried and it was wonderful! My family is only low carb, not full-on keto (bc keto rash! ugh!) so I made it with a bit of dried apricot and some sugar-free candied orange and lemon peel. Sugar-free cranberries are not very easy to find in my rural area.
I didn't have quark so I used half softened cream cheese and half full fat Stoneyfield plain yoghurt.
Next time I think I would halve the amount of marzipan, even though I love a marzipan vein in the stollen, because I enjoyed the bread part so much I would like that flavor to dominate.
What I particularly loved was the fineness and moisture of the dough, which I think might have partly been the coconut flour in the recipe, and also that these days I am using higher quality almond flour (Wellbees is the cheapest I've found, but also King Arthur and Bob's Red Mill). The store-bought stollen I've had in the past has always been somewhat dry, but this was wonderful. Thanks for a great recipe!
Camilla Herold
Looks like another great recipe! In addition to watching my sugar intake, I am counting fiber grams, and I see this has a good amount, offsetting some of the carbs. Where is the fiber coming from?
Katrin Nürnberger
There is fiber in almonds and in the coconut flour, that's probably the bulk. Most of the ingredients will contain a portion of fiber, except of the eggs and the fat, of course.
Shauna Wyllie
I made this after seeing all the stollen appear in the shops for Christmas time. It’s something I always bought pre keto.
I made this with a little bit swapping of the fruit, I just used some cranberries and done blueberries as I stay as low carb as possible, it was absolutely delicious. Tasted so much similar to the shop bought, the flavour of the peel and marzipan just brought back the nostalgia of enjoyment with this bake. Thank you for the recipe
Natasha
Hi, I was wondering if you blanched your almonds first ?
Thanks !
Katrin Nürnberger
Both the ground almonds and the flaked (sliced) almonds I used were blanched - I bought them like that in the supermarket.
Beth
I wonder if this will freeze well. I would love to make ahead freeze and take it with me when I fly home for Christmas. Love all your recipes!
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, it freezes well. You will have to dust it again with powdered sweetener after defrosting.
Jenny
Love this better than a normal stollen!!
Tonit
Are flaked almonds the same as sliced almonds? I've never heard that term before, but I am a Texan!
Thank you!
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, the same as sliced almonds!
Shona
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
So glad it was a success! Merry Christmas!
Ela
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
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
Oh wow thats super, thanks for the recipe. I will do it for Christmas! Warm greetings from Germany :))
Katrin Nürnberger
Let me know how you all liked it! Have a great Christmas 🙂
Claire
It says to bake for about 40 mins but doesn't say what oven temperature to use?
Katrin Nürnberger
Thank you for spotting this, updated! It's 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
Claire
Thank you!
Vera
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
Merry Christmas to you as well Vera! Thank you so much for your kind words. Glad you like the stollen!
Elaine Nash
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
That's so good to hear! I'm really happy you like the recipe.
Jennifer D
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
Keep me posted and come back here once you've made it! I can't wait to hear how it turns out.