You might call this a cake, others would call it a bread. Whatever it might be, it tastes amazing with a hot cup of tea. Last week on the bake off, European cakes was the theme. And I'm sure most of you expected a Prinsesstårta on my blog for the challenge, what with me being such a big Sweden fan. I sort of want to come up with my own (pink!) version though, so I'll leave it to another time.
The yeasted cakes looked really good and, I can now say, taste pretty awesome as well. Some of the bakers baked a French Savarin, others a German/Austrian Gugelhupf. Since I don't have a savarin mould, a gugelhupf is what I chose. Not disappointed with my choice - at all!
Yeasted cakes might sound a bit strange - but this is what our ancestors used when baking powder was not around. I have to say, it's more of a bread texture-wise, but with the amount of eggs and butter in this you'd háve to call this a cake.
And weren't your relieved no-one left the bake off last week? I saw it coming as soon as Mary said she and Paul didn't agree, but there was still a sigh of relief on my part. I didn't want to lose Richard just yet!! I'm hoping he just had a bad day. I also really enjoyed this week's Extra Slice, although maybe enjoy is not the correct word. I was happy Diana could finally give her version, explain what happened, but as I saw her getting really emotional my stomach turned into a knot. Also: not being able to taste or smell anything after a life full of wonderful flavor must be horrible. A baker's (or really anyone's) worst nightmare.
This Gugelhupf is great on its own, but if you have any leftovers (unlikely), you can have it as toast the next day with a good bit of butter.
Recipe Chocolate and Hazelnut Swirl Gugelhupf
Tools: greased 10 inch gugelhupf/bundt pan, pastry brush
Ingredients:
Dough:
195 ml full-fat milk
140 gr unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
80 gr granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 gr instant yeast
455 gr all-purpose flour
3 medium eggs
Filling:
55 gr light brown sugar
115 gr hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and chopped roughly
140 gr semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely
35 gr unsalted butter, melted
icing sugar
1. Scald milk in a saucepan. Take off the heat, stir or whisk in butter, sugar, vanilla bean paste and salt. Stir until the butter has dissolved. Leave to cool until lukewarm.
2. Transfer milk mixture to a large bowl, add 150 gr of flour and the yeast and beat until well incorporated. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Then add the flour, about 50 grams at a time beating between additions until well combined. Transfer the (sticky) dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 5 minutes, until smooth. Place dough in a buttered bowl, turn it over to coat all sides and cover the bowl with clingfilm. Let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Prepare the filling while your dough is rising. Simply mix the light brown sugar, chopped hazelnuts and chopped chocolate.
4. Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down and knead it for a few times. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Then roll it out into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface, about 30x50cm/14x19" in size.
5. Brush melted butter on the dough, then sprinkle the filling on top, while leaving a 2.5cm/1" border on the widest part only. Starting from the long side, roll the dough up, then transfer the dough-roll to the bundt pan. Cover pan with clingfilm and leave to rise until the dough has doubled - this will take about 1.5 hours. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 175C/350F.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then unmold and leave to cool completely on the rack for about 1 hour. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Adapted from: Martha Stewart Living, December 2012Labels: Austrian, Bread, Cake, Chocolate, German, Hazelnut, Hazelnuts, Traditional, Yeast
