Bremer Klaben is a rich holiday bread and the lesser-known sibling of Dresdner Stollen. Just like Stollen, it is studded with candied and/or dried fruit and nuts.
And just like Dresdner Stollen, Bremer Klaben is protected by the European Union scheme of protected geographical indications (PGIs), which means that it may only be sold under that name if at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in a well-defined geographical area, in this case in or around the city of Bremen in the north of Germany.
The EU’s PGI scheme provides very specific requirements for Bremer Klaben: a dough-to-fruit ratio of about 1:1 containing flour, butter or margarine, yeast, sugar, sultanas, candied lemon peel, candied orange peel, almonds, vanilla, lemon zest and cardamom. These ingredients must make 95% of the total weight. Rum is permitted but may not exceed 5% of the total weight. The EU is also very specific about the baking process and temperature. And, unlike the free-from Dresdner Stollen, Bremer Klaben is baked in a mold, which gives it is typical flat rectangular shape.
Bremer Klaben is a protected name but don’t worry, you can bake as many Dresdner Stollen and Bremer Klaben as you like, as long as you do it in your home kitchen, and for friends and family only.
Still, there is one other problem. Like Stollen, Bremer Klaben should sit for a couple of weeks before cutting to develop its full flavor. Leaving it untouched for that long can be a real challenge so I always hide it in the cool basement – from my family and from myself.
This recipe is featured in our FREE eBook Christmas – A world of flavors, available on 196 flavors.
Nadia Hassani is the Culinary Expert for German cuisine on 196 flavors. You can also find her recipes on her own blog Spoonfuls of Germany and her cookbook that feature the cuisine of her native country. Read more about Nadia in the exclusive interview that she gave to 196 flavors.
- 3½ cups golden raisins
- ⅓ cup golden rum
- ½ cup milk (lukewarm)
- 1 (¼ oz.) package active dry yeast
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 13 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup candied orange peel , plus 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
- ¾ cup candied lemon peel , plus 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
- Finely grated zest of one organic lemon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 3½ oz. finely chopped blanched almonds
- Loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inches)
- Place the raisins in a colander and rinse under hot water. Drain well. Place them in a bowl and mix with the rum. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the milk with the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes until it starts to foam.
- Mix the flour with the salt and the remaining sugar in a large bowl. Add the yeast mix and butter and knead into soft elastic dough that detaches from the bowl by hand or, preferably, with the kneading attachment of an electric mixer. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Add the orange and lemon peel, lemon zest, cardamom, vanilla and almonds to the raisins and mix well.
- Place the dough on a clean work surface. With your hands, gradually work in the dried fruit mix, including all of the liquid. It takes a while for the dough to absorb all the fruit, and the dough will be very sticky. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 F. The best pan to use is a meatloaf pan, in a standard loaf pan 9 x 5 x 3-inch (22.5 x 12.5 x 7.5 cm). It may rise over the top. Grease the pan as well as the shiny side of a large piece of aluminum foil. Place the dough in the loaf pan and push it down gently so it fills the entire pan.
- Tightly cover the loaf with the foil, greased side down. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Uncover, reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. If the raisins turn too dark and the loaf is not done yet, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.
Loosen the sides of the bread immediately after baking. You can unmold the loaf onto a wire rack right way but because it's so moist it may crack, so to be safe, wait until it has cooled in the pan, then unmold. Carefully turn it over so the bottom rests on the wire. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil or store in an airtight container. Store in a cool place.
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just was approved today for these delicious recipies these German cake sure looks good I love all recipies thank you for approving me
I followed instructions but dough was very dry when mixed, Fruit was hard to work in, then when cooked in loaf pan. Very dark almost burnt!!!, Tips please as I like the ingredients but doesn’t come together good and perhaps temp not right. Thank you!!,
Judy, First of all, sorry the recipe did not work out for you as expected! There might be several reasons. It could be the flour, different brands absorb liquids differently, not all all-purpose flour is the same. It should be a rather sticky dough, so if it was dry, I would add more milk, a tablespoon at a time. The second thing that could make the dough dry is if the rum from soaking the raisins was omitted but if you added it all, it was most likely the flour. – That the loaf came out too dark could be due to your oven or the type of baking pan, lighter/heavier material, dark/light metal, coated/uncoated… I have baked the same bread in different loaf pans, and the pan made a big difference. So if your loaf was almost burned after the indicated baking time, it should have baked shorter than the 30 to 40 minutes at 350 F. It is a very dense loaf so it takes a long time to bake through but an aluminum cover helps if the inside needs more time. – When I make this recipe again I will keep your problems in mind and I appreciate your comment.
I have been making Klaben for decades with recipe from great great grandmother. The biggest difference is I leave loaf in slightly warm oven ( oven light) overnight and then bake at 350 for 60 minutes
Very excited to be making this. My husbands mother is from the Breman area, but I noticed in the directions it does not say when to add the vanilla. I’m half way through and just realized!!
Sorry about this Ladda, I just edited the recipe. Enjoy!
Thank you! That’s where I ended up putting it! Going to attempt a second loaf this week. First one is resting, but was very hard on outside and then not done on inside. It broke in half trying to get it out of pan. Put it back together as best I could and cooked it longer, then wrapped it up tight in foil. Going to try lower temp for longer time.
This recipe is a complete disaster. Similar to others’ experiences, the bread baked at this heat in the size pan recommended yields a too brown crust on the outside and raw dough in the middle. The klaben fell apart completely. I’m an experienced baker and I make klaben every year. Using this recipe,I wasted a day’s worth of labor and too many expensive, hard to get ingredients. Don’t make it with these directions. For this amount, you need a larger pan and bake at a lower temperature.
Kes, I am sorry you had trouble with the recipe, I know how frustrating it is when a recipe as involved as this fails. Although I have baked it many times according to this recipe (which pretty much follows the formula of the EU’s PGI for ingredient ratio and baking temperature) I made it again this weekend in order to troubleshoot, following the recipe to the letter, and it worked. I just posted a photo on my Facebook page if you’d like to see it: https://www.facebook.com/SpoonfulsofGermany/ Because the dough is so heavy, it does not rise much if at all during the final 40 minute rise. That’s why a meat loaf pan has always worked well for me, it barely reached the top. In a regular loaf pan, which is slightly smaller, it rises a little above the top. And Bremer Klaben is by nature extremely dense and moist, unlike Stollen, so I see how one could conclude it’s underbaked and leave it in the oven for much longer, which can then result in burning. The only small issue I had this time was that when I took it out of the loaf pan right after baking, I noticed it was starting to crack in the middle, so I put it back in the pan immediately and let it fully cool in the pan, after which it was solid as a rock, no more cracking. But based on this latest experience I will make sure to make an adjustment/note in the recipe. – I hope you don’t give up on Bremer Klaben and you’ll have more success in the future.