Cover 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup brandied cherries, 1/4 cup dried cranberries and 4 chopped dried apricots with cherry brandy, about 1 cup. Chop dried apricots and brandied cherries, pits removed, in raisin size pieces. Soak one hour or overnight.

Make half a pound of california cheese or use philadelphia cheese from the store. In dutch oven, gently heat pint of full milk with 1/4 tsp salt below boiling, stirring to keep temperature even. Drizzle juice of half a Meyer lemon. Turn off heat. Let stand till it curdles, about 10 minutes, ladle curds into towel on top of colander in glass bowl. Save leftover wey to make dough. Drain, squeeze the cheese into a ball. Set aside.

Make the marzepan, easy. Best flavor comes from equal weights, not volume, of almonds and confectionary sugar. Grind almonds in stages: crush first with mallet to keep the almonds oils in. Put in food processor. Add 1 whipped egg white. Add Tbs rosewater. Add up to 1/4 pound confectioners sugar in tablespoons one by one till paste is dry. Dust flour on cutting board, ladle marzepan into 7” long hot dog shape. Let harden.

Make the candied orange and lemon rinds. Thinly peel and chop 1orange and 1/2 meyer lemon. Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of water and chopped rinds. Bring to a boil, simmer till liquid becomes a thick syrup. Cool, add Tbs cherry brandy and 2 Tbs unsalted butter for brushing on top of stollen before baking.

In bread mixer, put 1 cup warm whey or warm full milk, Tbs sugar and 1 Tsp yeast, mix till bubbling. Add 2 cups of flour, mix. When the dough starts to rise, Add mix of 2 Tbs almond flour, 1/2 stick of molten butter, beaten egg yoke, tsp vanilla extract, cup california fresh cheese, tsp salt and 1/4 tsp each ground cardamom, cinnamon, mace, cloves. Mix all together, cover, let rise till double, one hour.

Make four dough balls and roll out to 8 ” x 12” ovals on floured surface. Sprinkle 1/3 of fruits on bottom layer, brush with cherry brandy. Second layer on top, cover with 1/3 of fruit and brush with brandy. Lay marzepan roll in center, 2” shorter than length of dough.Third layer of dough on top, sprinkle fruit, brush with brandy on top. Fourth layer of dough on top. Press edges together. Let rise one hour.

Finish. Glaze top. Warm glaze, dont heat, cover top with mixture of cherry brandy, 2 Tbs unsalted butter and candied citrus peel. Turn oven to 375F degrees with Stollen inside. Bake 30 minutes. Stollen will expand to 16” x 10”.

Sieve confectioners sugar over Stollen to imitate the Christmas snow of winter covering a landscape. Cool your cake. “stollen” means solidify, the marzipan inside the cake has to be cold, then slice and serve. Happy Holidays. Enjoy.