UAE's largest charity cake sale brings cheer to mall visitors

The team of volunteers, chefs and officials at the Stollen Charity Cake Sale at The Mall of the Emirates.

Hundreds of visitors at the Mall of the Emirates were treated to the longest cake of this festive season, prepared by a team of 12 chefs of the Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates.
Friday saw the return of the UAE's largest charity cake sale at the Mall of the Emirates that is expected to raise more than Dh100,000 for charity.
The Annual Stollen Charity Cake Sale, now in its 13th year, aimed to sell a record 800 metres (roughly 1,800 pieces) of cake and donate the proceeds to Emirates Red Crescent. The one-day event that was held in the South Galleria of the mall from 10am to 10pm saw about 50 school students volunteer to take part in helping with the cake sale alongside other volunteers of the mall as well as the hotel.
Sudqi Naddaf, executive chef at the Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, said: "It took a team of 12 chefs completely dedicated to the preparation round the clock for more than two months. We all worked in shifts and baked the stollen in batches. The cake was preserved in butter and its ingredients act as self-preservatives. Therefore, it can be kept up to three months from the production date."
"Stollen (pronounced as Sh-to-llen) is the most popular traditional cake in Germany, especially during this Christmas time. Also, we challenge ourselves every year and increase the length of the cake because it is being done for a noble cause," Naddaf added.
The team used more than 2,500 eggs, 625kg of flour, 290kg of raisins and 65kg of marzipan to create the delicacy. Also, 133kg of lemons and 142kg of oranges were zested to give the cake a burst of citrus flavour.
The 60cm-long stollen loaves were priced at Dh100 for a whole loaf, Dh50 for half a loaf or just Dh5 for a delicious slice.
Slim Zaiaine, general manager of Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, added: "It is the involvement of the community and the teams at the mall that gets everyone excited for this annual event. This time, a lot of kids also got involved in the event and the special part is that the proceeds of the sale will be used to fund needs and education of underprivileged kids. This annual event is so special for some people that they come back year after year to support it and in turn support the charity cause behind it."
As part of the Annual Stollen Charity Cake Sale, visitors also enjoyed a number of musical and dance performances and also and occasional visit from Santa Claus.
"The Annual Stollen Cake Sale has become a well-received tradition at Mall of the Emirates with our partner Kempinski Mall of the Emirates. We are delighted to provide the platform for such community initiatives and to deliver one of the most loved festive events of the year. Each year we set a new challenge to raise more for charity than ever before and we hope to achieve a fundraising record to support the Emirates Red Crescent charity. We applaud them for their continuous efforts and look forward to gifting a healthy sum towards their humanitarian work. We would like to thank our colleagues who volunteer their time to assist selling every last slice of cake," said Nada Abou Saab, Marketing Director, Shopping Malls (East region), Majid Al Futtaim Properties.
saman@khaleejtimes.com