- Title: Germans devour world's largest Christmas stollen in Dresden
- Date: 3rd December 2016
- Summary: DRESDEN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 3, 2016) (REUTERS) DRESDEN FRAUENKIRCHE PARADE BEGINNING
- Embargoed: 18th December 2016 15:09
- Keywords: Dresden Christmas stollen cake market
- Location: DRESDEN, GERMANY
- City: DRESDEN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA0015BBWZ15
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In the German city of Dresden, the Christmas season officially started on Saturday (December 4) with the traditional cutting of the famous Christmas stollen cake.
Tens of thousands of people crowded around the world's largest stollen cake, carried in on a horse-drawn carriage. It arrives annually at Dresden's "Striezelmarkt" Christmas market for the annual "Stollenfest" (stollen festival).
At the market, also known for its landmark Christmas pyramid, the cake was cut by the head baker with an oversized silver-plated "stollen" knife.
According to the makers of the giant cake, more than 60 bakers stirred, baked and layered for one week and used more than a tonne of flour, 675 kg of butter, 180 kg of sugar and 1,35 million sultanas.
Head baker Henry Mueller said that this year's Dresden delicacy "has a length of 3.55 metres, 1.73 metres wide and 88 centimetres high" and weight of 2,872 kilograms, making it one tonne larger than the historical model from 1730.
Legend has it that the most famous of Dresden's cakes was baked for August the Strong - known at the time as the Saxon Hercules. The cake apparently weighed 2,000 kg and took 60 bakers to prepare, much like this time. Horses transported it to the Elector's banquet, where it was sliced with a five-foot knife.
The Dresden Christmas market, or "Striezelmarkt", held annually since 1434, is named after an old word for "stollen", first mentioned in the early fourteenth century.
Visitors from around Germany came to score a slice of the monster rum and fruit bread, waiting patiently in a crowd of thousands.
"It is definitely worth it to crowd and push, because it is really delicious. Really. There's no stollen in Berlin that can compare," Christian Berger, who made the drive from Dresden to Berlin for a piece of cake, said.
Slices of the traditional Saxon cake are sold with all proceeds going to charity, as per annual tradition. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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