Christmas Calendar 2013 Day 19 - Stollen with marzipan and cranberries

I am dreading to publish this post on Stollen with marzipan and cranberries, if I should have some fanatic German stollen fans !!! Marzipan in Stollen is OK, BUT cranberries !!!! I will have to see, if I become "persona non grata" in Germany due to the use of cranberries with the very famous German Christmas cake.

I have located this specific recipe in the wonderful baking book "Seasonal Baking" by Fiona Carirns.
I made three changes. The first change is on the ingredient side, where I replaced amaretto with cherry liqueur with Christmas spices. The second change was not adding the glazing of butter and amaretto baking the baking process, as I think it is giving a messy surface of the cake. The third change is on the equipment side, where I baked the cake in an original stollen form, so the shape of the cake is correct from a German view point.

Stollen cake with marzipan and cranberry a la "Seasonal Baking":

• 150 g dried cranberries
• 100 ml cherry liqueur with Christmas spice
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cardamon
• 1 organic orange - zest of 1 orange and juice of ½ orange
• 120 g soft butter
• 120 g sugar
• 200 g sour cream - 38% fat
• 350 g spelt flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs - lightly beaten
• 100 almond flour
• 200 g marzipan

1. Place the cranberries, cherry liqueur, nutmeg, cardamon, orange zest and orange juice in a small mixing bowl cool and leave it for minimum 4 hours or night over.
2. Heat the oven (conventional) to 190'C.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
4. Ground the almonds (with peel) into the flour.
5. Whip the butter and sugar into a light creamy mass in a tabletop mixer, whip for 5 minutes on speed 6.
6. Add the sour cream and whip again.
7. Continue to whisk, slowly adding the eggs with 1 table spoon of the flour blend (to prevent curdling).
8. Continue to whisk, as the flour blend, almond flour and soaked cranberries incl all the liquid is added into the cake dough.
9. Grease the stollen form with butter.
10. Fill half the cake dough into the stollen form.
11. Roll the marzipan into one long log, being 3-4 cm shorter than the stollen form.
12. Place the marzipan log into the dough, pressing it slightly down into the cake dough.
13. Pour the remaining cake dough into the stollen form, so the marzipan log is covered by cake dough.
14. Cover a baking tray with baking paper. Place the baking tray on top of the stollen form and turn everything up side down, so the stollen dough is covered by the stollen form, when it is baked in the oven.
15. Place the stollen in the oven in the middle and let it bake for 50-55 minutes.
16. After 35-40 minutes baking remove the stollen form. 
17. Let the cake cool down after baking.
18. Store the cake in an airtight container.