Basti Bruecklmaier shows off a selection of nuts and raisins over which he pours flour, sugar, butter and a secret blend of spices to make one of Germany's tastiest treats - and some of his stollen is destined for Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
The 28-year-old has for years been making the traditional Christmas cake at the family bakery in Munich.
"When you get to deliver your product to such a personality and they like it so much that they want it again, then it of course makes us proud," he said, adding a chocolate powder crown to the top of his creation.
"It's a bit stupid to say, but it's like being knighted."
The baker last year sent his friend Stefan Pappert, a chef for the queen, a stollen as a Christmas present.
"He liked it so much that he took it with him to Windsor Castle for his colleagues to taste and they said it was so good that the queen should try it and so she tried it and liked it too," said Bruecklmaier. "That is how it all began."
Ten stollen will be sent from the Bavarian bakery to England where they will be served to the queen and members of the royal family with tea on Christmas Day.
"We get the stollen from Basti for the queen and for the Royal Household," Pappert said in London. "It's lovely for us to get stollen from Bavaria."
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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