One day in advance, mix the raisins and the rum together and let the rum infuse the raisins overnight.
On the next day, heat up the milk until it's lukewarm. Mix the milk and the yeast with a fork until the yeast is dissolved in the milk. Add a little bit of sugar and 3 tbsp flour. Cover and let the mixture sit for 20 minutes.
Add flour, mace, fresh lemon peel, sugar, salt butter, almond meal, and marzipan, knead until a smooth dough forms. Now it's time to add the candied lemon peel, candied orange peel and the raisins to the dough.
Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 347°F. Knead the dough again. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, put the dough on it and form an oval-shaped loaf. You can make one big Stollen or two smaller ones. Use a rolling pin to flatten the middle of the loaf so that you have two bulges. Flatten one of the bulges and fold it over (See picture).
Take a piece of aluminum foil and fold it to form a 4-inch high stripe. Pin the ends together to form a circle which should be the size of your Stollen. Put it around your Stollen. Bake the Stollen for 45-60 minutes.
Take it out of the oven and brush the liquid butter over the Stollen. Sprinkle the sugar onto the Stollen and then 2/3 of the powdered sugar. Let it cool off. Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar. The butter and sugar make it durable.
The Stollen can break easily, so be careful. Transfer it to a cake rack and leave it till the next day to make sure it's completely cooled down.
Wrap the Stollen in parchment paper and then put aluminum foil around, put it in a zipper back and store it in a cool place for 1-4 weeks. The flavors will infuse the Stollen and it gets better and better. Before you serve it, sprinkle another layer of powdered sugar on top.
Notes
Recipe originally published in December 2015. Updated with an improved recipe, more detailed instructions, and new pictures.