Modern Baker Challenge: Viennese Raisin Coffee Cake

Nick Malgieri describes Vienna as the world capital of cakes in his introduction to the recipe for Viennese Raisin Coffee Cake.  Aha:  perhaps it’s not the culture, history, music, and architecture…

 that make Vienna one of my favorite cities–it’s the desserts!

Only appropriate that I make this cake for the Modern Baker Challenge, given that I have a kugelhopf mold.  (Yes, rather than a bundt cake mold.  I told you I love Vienna.)  I’m jumping around a bit here, I do acknowledge (what’s that you say?  I haven’t even finished the assigned chapter, “yeast risen specialties”, yet?).  But I can’t bear to think of making all those cakes all at once (I just got off the baby weight!) and, less virtuously, I don’t want to wait.

What I found interesting is that this cake is raised by both whipped egg whites and baking powder.  In that way it is similar to the other kugelhopf that I made, which was raised by egg whites and yeast.  I think this gave the cake a bit of a drier texture (I have noticed that cakes in Prague were often dry, and I think it is a result of using a meringue to raise the cakes).  Cakes like Sachertorte are always served with a dollop of whipped cream,

and, while far more modest a cake, I think a similar treatment would serve this cake well. 

After all these fancy photos, here’s my pictures of the cake itself, a good all-purpose cake.  I think you could dress it up as I mentioned above, or with a nice fruit compote or coulis, but as it’s not too sweet and not too fussy you can have it anytime of day.

Yeasted Almond and Raisin Babovka

Babovka is what I’m choosing to call this cake (but you can also call it Kugelhopf or Gugelhopf  (or babka or kuglof…and surely there’s some other names out there I’m missing).  I’m not sure what’s the easiest to pronounce, so take your pick! 

While it’s only idle speculation, I imagine that this is a European ancestor of the Bundt cake–baked in a decorative, fluted mold, hollow at the center, often with a swirled filling.  While my particular version is yeasted (and with no “surprises” other than raisins), I’m sure I’ve had more definitively “cake” type versions “in my time.” 

Personally, I’m calling this Babovka because that’s what it’s known as in the Czech Republic, where I first encountered it (and fairly ubiquitous–you’re much more likely to run across this than you are a Bundt cake these days).  It was always mentioned by my students when it was time for one of those oh-so-cliched foreign language lessons “Traditional foods of your country”).  They would consult their English-Czech dictionaries to tell me that in English, it was known as a “Gugelhopf.”  (Hmmm…not entirely illuminating). 

In any event, somewhat recently I came across recipes for the Alsatian “Kugelhopf” cake, or the German “Gugelhopf” and it got me thinking (and got me making some additions to my Amazon.com wishlist).  I ended up getting a 10 cup capacity mold for Christmas (the size is actually not all that standardized, surprisingly enough for something that is sort of an unusual product) as it seemed to be on the larger end, and I figured were I to make  recipe calling for an 8 cup mold it would just not fill all the way.  (Alternately, I’d have to deal with overflowing batter). 

Not to be a repeating record, but guess which yolk is from the TRUE free-range hen?

 I looked at a few recipes. Nick Malgieri’s Babka called for 12 egg yolks, that was the end of that one (anyway, we’ll be seeing enough of him around here soon enough).  I thought about Dorie Greenspan’s version and another one listed on epicurious, but finally ended up choosing a yeasted version that I loosely based on a recipe in Rick Rodgers Kaffeehaus.  Being a cookbook that focusses on Central European coffeehouse treats, it has its  fair share of Kugelhopf recipes.  I also love it for sentimental reasons–photos and descriptions of the great coffeehouses of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague,  and of course with instructions on how to recreate the delicious cakes and pastries so unique to that area. 

 

The original recipe is a bit odd–namely, you are instructed to separate the eggs, make the dough, and then stir in (not fold!) whipped egg whites which are meant to deflate into the batter.  I have absolutely no idea what the purpose of this is (though I have seen this technique in various Ukrainian Easter Bread (Paska) recipes and have been similarly puzzled).  I can’t say if this is necessary, but if anyone knows I’d be very curious to find out! 

 

 

In the end, I’d have to say this was more bread than cake.  But a sweet bread, along the lines of a Pannetone or Pandoro–so no complaints here. 

 

 

Yeasted Almond and Raisin Babovka  (based on, but adapted from, Kaffeehaus). 

• 3 3/4t active dry yeast
• 1c milk at 110-115F
• 1/2t sugar
• 1c AP flour (unbleached)
• 12T butter at room temperature
• 1/2c sugar
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1/2t vanilla extract
• 1t almond extract
• 1/2t salt
• 2 1/2-3c AP flour (unbleached)
• 1c raisins
• 1/4c sliced almonds
• confectioner’s sugar, for serving

Make the sponge:  add the yeast, sugar, and flour to the warm milk and let rise for a half hour.  

Pour the sponge into a stand mixer and beat in the butter.  Then add one by one the four yolks and beat until incorporated.  Add the extracts and salt.  Add the flour to form a soft tacky dough.  You may not need all the flour–wait before adding more to allow it to incorporate (it may take a minute or so).  Beat for five minutes to obtain a soft dough. 

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Add to the dough (the whites will deflate), leaving you with a soft batter.  Stir in the raisins. 

Butter your mold and press in the almond slivers.  Pour in the batter and allow to rise until the pan is nearly full.  Bake for 30 minutes, then cover with foil and bake another 3o minutes (to prevent over-browning). The cake should register at 205F. 

Allow to cool and serve with powdered sugar.

Dorie Greenspan’s Far Breton

I’m not sure where I first saw a recipe for Far Breton, but I’ve been intrigued by it for a while now.  I also thought “what a great way to use up some of that buckwheat flour!”  And, of course, it’s a French regional dessert that was totally new to me, and didn’t sound too hard, all of which piqued my interest.  I have several recipes and opted for the Dorie Greenspan version first, mainly because that recipe used ingredients I had on hand. 

 

I have to admit, that while I speak of being drawn in by curiosity to this cake, at the same time, I wondered how it could be any good–because it relies heavily on prunes.  Yes, even though dried grapes and dried apricots are eaten openly and without fear, prunes have a more geriatric association to them, as well as an aura of certain intestinal ailments.  But once again, I bring up my husband’s quote:  “Trust the French, even if sounds weird, they know what they are doing.”  Furthermore, Dorie Greenspan (among many others) probably knows what she is talking about as well.  (I’ll note that you can use any other dried fruit if the idea of prunes still horrifies you).

 

Now, as I got into the recipe, it turned out I had picked the one far Breton recipe that did not require buckwheat.  Never mind.  The point is, I went ahead and made it.  It is truly, as the recipe states, much more like a crepe batter than any cake batter you are familiar with.  In fact, you can make it in a blender (though I opted for my food processor as it was in easier range).  The batter (if that’s what you can call it) is downright frothy after you mix all the wet ingredients together, and stays that way after adding the flour.

 

Far breton batter--right before adding flour

I’m not sure why, but you then leave the batter in the fridge overnight–fine by me as I could whip it up after dinner, plunk the dishes in the dishwasher, and go to bed. 

 

What about the prunes, you say?  That’s the fun part!  You can choose between soaking them in hot earl grey tea or armagnac.  As I only had the former, that’s what I went with.  While soaking in armagnac certainly sounds more elegant, I liked the idea of using tea in a recipe–coffee is always seen in cakes, ice creams, cookies, and sweets of all sorts, but tea is pretty rarely used for those (or any other culinary) purposes.  The tea was less dramatic an option, (you have to light your armagnac soaked prunes to burn off the alcohol) but perhaps a safer one early in the morning while waiting for your coffee to kick in. 

 

When ready, you pour the batter into your cake tin (I used a nine-inch mold rather than the specified eight-inch pan) and then drop the prunes in one by one, trying to scatter them evenly throughout.  Then, you bake!    A note on this process:  I slightly overcooked it as I was expecting for the toothpick to come out dry.  I then realized that given how custardy this cake was probably meant to be, if I waited any longer it would be terribly overcooked!  I did end up overcooking it slightly (the base of the cake was a bit tougher than I imagine it should have been) but overall the cake was fine.  So:  the knife should come out clean, but still moist to the touch.  Do see the instructions below for cooling the cake; it is so delicate that if it sits directly on the cooling rack, the rack will cut it.  (Set parchment paper on the rack before setting the cake on it to cool).

 

While the cake is not that perfectly geometrical flattened cylinder we think of as a cake, I found its golden landscape of hills and valleys of puffed crust beautiful–and appetizing.

 

 

 

I had a slice after it had cooled a bit and was amazed.  Could prunes really taste this good?  The custard was creamy, rich from the eggs and milk yet mild, the fruit was melting yet lush-tasting, fragrant and bold.   Still, I only had the one, modest slice.  Little E and I went off to play, and came back downstairs when my husband came back.  I looked at the cake and noticed it was over half gone already.  My husband gave me a shrug.  I guess he liked it.  I guess we will be making it again!  (But first I have to try my other far breton recipes…it’s only fair!)

 

Slice of far breton

 Far Breton  (adapted from Dorie Greenspan:  Baking From My Home to Yours, available here)

• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
•  1 cup small or medium-size pitted prunes (about 6 ounces)
• 1/2 cup hot Earl Grey tea

Preparation

Combine milk, eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in blender jar. Blend 1 minute. Add flour and pulse just until blended, scraping down sides of jar. Cover and chill at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

Pour hot tea over prunes and allow to cool completely.

Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Butter paper. Dust pan with flour, shaking out excess; place on baking sheet.

Reblend batter until smooth, about 5 seconds. Pour into prepared cake pan. Drop prunes into batter, distributing evenly (discard excess liquid). Bake cake on baking sheet until sides are puffed and brown and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake completely in pan on rack.

Place piece of parchment or waxed paper on flat plate. Sift powdered sugar onto paper. Run knife around cake in pan to loosen. Invert pan onto paper, releasing cake. Remove pan; peel off paper. Place serving plate over cake and invert. Dust top of cake with additional powdered sugar.

Sour Cream Fudge Cake: Another solution to too much sour cream!

Sour cream chocolate cake is not particularly unusual (or, not quite as “exotic” as my other sour cream creation) but for me it was still quite a discovery–I would have never believed how good it could be.

You can guess how I ended up making this:  I had another 8 ounces of sour cream.  I somehow had managed to get packed for my 6pm flight by 10am.  Probably in order to deal with pre-flight antisiness I decided it would be a good idea to make another cake with that extra sour cream.  I used a pretty basic recipe, the chocolate sour cream cake recipe from Joy of Cooking.  (Note it’s not in the newer editions; I’m not sure why!)

So I assembled the ingredients:

and buttered and floured two cake pans.  (I try to remember to leave out a little bit of extra butter when I take the butter out for the recipe to soften; then it’s easy enough to spread.  I can use the wrapper from the butter used for the recipe to help schmear it on). 

 I used our leftover, ultra dark coffee instead of water and followed the instructions’ suggestion to use cake flour. 

Pretty simple otherwise:  I filled the pans, baked the cakes…

Does it not look like chocolate mousse?

And set them out to cool.

I could not believe how tender this cake was!  I am sure it must have been the cake flour, but how much of it was due to sour cream I’m not sure.  (For example, buttermilk pancakes are markedly more yielding than regular pancakes, thank to the acidity, I believe. It would stand to reason then that the sour cream could have the same effect in a cake).  I wish I could remember the Cake Bible Chocolate Cake I made for little E and Mike’s birthdays–I know it was good but somehow I think this may have been better.  It would certainly be worth it to run a rigorous, scientific comparison of the two.  All in the name of education, of course. Anyone willing to help? (ha!).  But seriously, it would be interesting to compare.  (Note that the Cake Bible has a sour cream cake recipe, but as it used only egg yolks, I bypassed it, for reasons I have explained before–just too many egg whites already in the freezer!)

This also made me all the more curious as to how the Cardamom Sour Cream Cake might be with cake flour.  This chocolate cake requires a lot of beating of the ingredients–probably more than I did when making the cardamom cake.  Yet this was so much more tender.  I really wonder if it has something to do with overbeating the cardamom cake.  In contrast, I think it’s really important to beat a cake made with cake flour very well–because the flour has so little gluten (relatively) to hold the cake together, you have to provide it by vigorous mixing.

This cake was mainly left for my husband as he was not able to come along due to work.  But since it did make two cakes, one was put in the freezer for later.  (Ha!  I did manage to successfully freeze the sour cream after all!)

Sour Cream Fudge Cake (adapted from an older edition of Joy of Cooking

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 3/4 c cake flour
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 1 c sour cream
• 6 T softened butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/4c coffee

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Melt the chocolate.  Sift together the cake flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  Add the sour cream and butter and beat on high speed for 2 minutes.  Add the chocolate, eggs, vanilla, and coffee and beat for another 2 minutes.  You want the batter to be thick and to ribbon.  Using a spatula, pour into two buttered and floured 9 X 2 inch cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool for 15 minutes in the pan and invert onto a cooling rack.

To freeze, wrap first in saran wrap and then aluminum foil.

Making Friends…Hershey’s Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes are a recent favorite of mine.  Seattle has a plethora of cupcake shops:  Cupcake Royale has a shop in West Seattle and one in Ballard and Trophy Cupake (which wins HANDS DOWN in the best cupcake competition in my circle) is in my old neighborhood of Wallingford.

My friend Maren and I used to joke that we would rather open our own cupcake boutique on the San Juan’s called “A Cupcake a Day” when we’d had our fill of Law. 

Lis and I also introduced cupcakes to our friend Canaphon who was from Indonesia — we often called him “O” upon his request because so many of us Americans struggled with is name.  He was a foreign student studying for his PhD at law school and for some reason, he thought it was prudent to study with us.  Our mastery of the English language likely deceived him of our mastery of Biz Orgs.  He had never had a cupcake and had a hard time imagining what one was, so we make him some too for his birthday.  No, there was nothing about cupcakes in any case we were reading for class, but it was a much happier subject and a good diversion.  That evening of cupcakes is best described as a “misadventure” — too many alterations of the recipe because of previous missteps and Lis’s mother’s cupcake trays that were bent terribly out of shape.  But, they were still tasty!

Now, being new to “the Valley,” I often joke that I can count all of my friends on one hand.  Having so few friends, it becomes even more important to keep them!  Accordingly, when birthdays come around, I try to make a good impression.  They are also a good opportunity to try new sugary treats because there won’t be 23 cupcakes to tempt me if I give them away!

My friend Jodee’s birthday was this past week, and upon being invited to a good sloshing of margaritas and chips & salsa I immediately asked the all important question:  chocolate or vanilla?  Yes, there are many, many other options, but I find it can be overwhelming for people to choose from so many so a choice between two or three helps the person feel in control without making me let go of the reins, so to speak.  Jodee’s response:  CHOCOLATE.  Google worked its magic and I found the recipe on the Hershey’s website

 It was a fairly easy recipe to follow.  The batter is very very thin.

I’ll give you some proper forewarning.  It’s very tempting to overfill the cupcakes, especially when the batter is thin.  Also, I only had two cupcake trays and since the recipe can make up to 30 I thought “what the harm” and filled them a little too much. 

 

It was an internal stuggle with the following options:  only bake 24 perfectly formed cupcakes and throw out the rest of the batter or bake 30 cupcakes by doing two rounds of baking. 

I think I tried to split the difference but created a huge mess.  The lazy side won over the practical and wasteful side.  Rather than only filling 2/3 full and throwing out the rest, I filled them a little too full.   This was the less than attractive, though still delicious, result:

And this was the mess at the bottom of the oven — it could have been worse.

But of course, frosting can just about solve any problem.  How many of you remember the Cosby Show episode in which Cliff cuts a hole in the center of the cake to devour a piece and covers up his theft with a napkin to fill in the hole and frosting on the top? 

This wasn’t exactly the same cause but certainly it works on the same theory.  I simply cut around the cupcakes, trimming off (and devouring) the unsightly edges and slathered on the thick icing.  A few sprinkles of candy-colored goodness, and voila!

 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).  Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter.

3. Bake 20 to 22  minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Frost with “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING.    About 30 cupcakes.

PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Sour Cream Cardamom Cake: Or, one solution to too much sour cream

Two Clever Sisters are in Seattle this week (+ a little E).  Last week, as I looked through what was in the refrigerator I noticed there was a 16 ounce tub of sour cream that would expire May 3rd (while we were in Seattle).  Far be it from me to allow a dairy product to go to waste.  My first thought was to make pancakes (having had absolutely delicious pancakes in Yarmouthport at the Liberty Hill Inn  on the Cape, one ingredient of which was sour cream).  But I was hardly going to make that one morning before work.  I then thought of the next best thing, a cake!

I flipped around through some cookbooks but kept finding recipes that used lots of egg yolks.  I have plenty of frozen egg whites in the freezer at this point and didn’t want to add to them.  So I checked epicurious and found a recipe for cardamom-pistachio sour cream cake.  Cardamom is really quite nice but is uncommon and therefore an unexpected and surprising touch.  Thus I overcame my usual aversion to spice cakes.   And while I am not usually a fan of adding nuts to baked goods (I will always leave out the walnuts in brownies, for example) I do like pistachios enough to figure I should give it a try here (and after all, they are sprinkled on the top so easy to pick off!)

Despite my resolve to be “brave” and add the pistachios, however, they were ultimately not destined to be used in this cake.  Remember the pistachio salmonella recall?  Yeah,  so none in the store.  So much for feeling proud of myself for not being picky.  I still was able to pat myself on the back for proceeding with what is arguably a “spice” cake, nonetheless.

In fact, I even began to worry if the lack of pistachio would make the cake too “boring”–there was not going to be any frosting, and would the cardamom be enough to take it beyond a bland vanilla cake?  (I love vanilla, but an unfrosted vanilla cake is really not that exciting).  How quickly I go from worrying about the overpowering taste of spice cake to worrying there won’t be enough!

I proceeded.  I beat the sugar and softened butter together until fluffy.  (I assume the picture below is what is meant by fluffy, otherwise, please enlighten me!)

Creaming the butter and sugar

Then I mixed in the sifted dry ingredients.  While sifting can seem like an extra step, I think it is important to mix the spices in nicely and also remove any lumps from the flour.  The more you beat batter, the more you develop the gluten and the tougher the cake is.  So it’s good to give yourself a head start!

I beat in the sour cream and milk and beat until I got the batter to ribbon.  Going from memory, I seemed to recall that getting the batter to ribbon is what indicates the structure is sufficient.  (Ribboning is when the batter trickling off the beaters  is thick enough to create “ribbons” on the rest of the batter when you hold it above–as it was only me I couldn’t get a good shot of this–where is my third arm when I need it?).  I am not sure this was a good idea, as I will discuss beliow.  I perhaps should have just folded it in.

Here’s the cake ready to go in the oven–i.e. when those pistachios would have been added!

 I needn’t have worried about the lack of pistachios, frosting, or other such garnishes.  The cardamom in the cake was deliciously fragrant.  I took it to work to share and, due to being in a bit of a rush, put it out without making sure it got announced (yeah, a bit cruel in retrospect).  Apparently the aroma attracted attention, but being polite, noone wanted to dig in to the first slice without being sure it was really for public consumption.  

I would like to try this cake again, first to see what it would be like with pistachios but also to see what it would be like with cake flour.  I felt like it was a bit tough (possibly as a result of my trying to “ribbon” the batter–maybe I should check my Cake Bible to see if that is always necessary to add structure to a cake or if I overdid it in this case.  Perhaps you only ribbon to such an extent when you are using cake batter…but perhaps this cake’s ingredients mean that cake batter wouldn’t be enough hold it all together, especially when adding pistachios?  Who knows?  Someone, surely, but not me).   I suppose it was only slightly tough, if at all, because I was complimented on the cake (though I did note above that my coworkers are polite!)

Enough of my speculation into hows and whys, here’s some photos of cake!

 

Sour Cream Cardamom Cake (adapted from B on Appetit)

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/8 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Sift 2 cups flour, ground cardamom, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar and 6 tablespoons butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla extract. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 3 additions each (Note I beat in until ribbons formed; folding may be better as it will not over-develop the gluten). Transfer batter to prepared cake pan, smooth the surface, and tap gently a few times to remove any excess air pockets.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

I have read that in the middle east coffee is often served infused with cardamom pods.  Therefore I suggest adding a few cardamom pods (if you have them–I do and they are hard to use up!) to some coffee to enjoy alongside this cake!