One unforeseen consequence of the relentless rise of German discounters Aldi and Lidl is that stollen cakes are now storming the festive shelves like it’s 1940 and they’ve got a map of Europe.
Under The Counter, squinting at some new stats from Circana, initially assumed he was reading another depressing report on shoplifting. It took a younger, less senile colleague to gently point out he wasn’t dealing with stolen cakes at all, but the Teutonic treat that’s a lighter alternative to Christmas cake but still packs a powerful marzipan punch.
The Auld Boy loves marzipan. When he got spliced to Mrs UTC back in the black-and-white days, he had two wedding cakes: one for the guests and one for himself.
According to Circana, traditional festive bakes like yule logs, Christmas cakes and mince pies are being left on the shelf like so many burst yogurts in favour of stollen and its Italian cousin, panettone.
A feather-light sponge and not, as UTC thought, the Italian pronunciation of a popular colour matching system, panettone is also galloping ahead in the festive bake stakes.
Last year, stollen and panettone together gobbled up 60% of Christmas cake sales – up from just 28% three years previously. Apparently, today’s consumer wants lighter, shareable options.
Very much yesterday’s consumer, Under The Counter will get his festive marzipan fix by slogging his way through a traditional heavy Christmas cake. And he won’t be sharing it.
