Christmas taste test: stollen

Bettys continental stollen £7.95, 380g A total winner. It eschews the nut and cherry overload of brasher competitors for an icing sugar overcoat on a smaller flatter loaf. What matters is the spread of sweet soft marzipan inside. Luscious. ★★★★★ Rich fruit marzipan stollen by Holly Lane for Aldi 750g, £1.99 A classic Aldi sleeper product. A very pleasant sweet fruit bread with just enough going on. Not as overblown or nut crusted as its big supermarket rivals but then, at a third of the price, it doesn't need to be. A cracking product. ★★★★ Tesco Finest stollen 630g, £6.00 It promises glacé cherries and it delivers on that promise. There's an awful lot going on here, but in a good way. A nice, serviceable stollen. ★★★ M&S luxury stollen 690g, £7.99 You will curse the day you let this on to your Christmas table, because whatever it says on the packaging about a moist bread, the damn thing crumbles the moment you get the knife in. Impossible to cut a slice. Irritating. ★★ Sainsbury's Taste The Difference fruit and nut topped stollen 500g, £4.75 Sure, there's fruit and nut, but the crumb lacks texture and it's a little over sweetened, given the marzipan. ★★ Daylesford organic stollen £6.99 Doubtless the Daylesford crew will say theirs is completely authentic, which just proves that authentic isn't the same as good. A hard, dry, characterless fruit bread with a miserable bolus of marzipan running through it. Not for sale online but that's not a problem as it's a waste of Christmas calories. ★