Chocolate Kugelhopf

This beautiful Chocolate Kugelhofp, filled with golden raisins, chocolate and brown sugar was made following this recipe from Martha Stewart Living.

What's a Kugelhofp? The Internet, being the wide and wonderful place that it is, describes endless variations and origins. A yeast-risen cake from France (especially Alsace) or Austria or Germany, it is baked in a round fluted pan, filled with raisins and sometimes almonds and dusted with powdered sugar before serving. The legends abound... One story says that the sweet bread was a gift from the three Magis returning from Bethlehem. Another, says that the recipe was brought to France by Marie Antoinette from Austria upon her marriage to Louis XIV. Another still, says it was a victory cake, baked in the shape of the sultan's turban after the Turks were defeated at the gates of Vienna in the 15th century.

This one had the consistency of a sweet bread not unlike a buttery brioche. Typically served with coffee, or at breakfast, I completely concur with the recipe that it's best toasted with a bit of butter. (But that didn't stop us from eating slice after slice just as it was. That's right. WAS. This delicious loaf disappeared quickly...)

I followed the recipe precisely, because I'm not crazy enough to think I can overrule the laws of chemistry, especially after past disasters with breads involving yeast. So, just diving into this project felt risky enough for me. But as always, variations are possible...I think any mix of dried fruit and nuts would work. Cranberries for Christmas would look pretty. This recipe added chocolate, so why not cinnamon?

It took the better part of a day, with all the rising and punching and waiting, but it was a lot of fun. And I learned a few tricks along the way. Like when you have to add a lot of flour to a batter, you should use the attachments on your beater called "dough hooks" (see the second picture below....I was on the verge of a giant mess when I figured this out....)

Here are the delicious results in pictures. I think it turned out perfectly and would highly recommend it. Enjoy!

 

Vanilla Maple Blueberry Cake

Birthday surprise....

This post is long overdue. A while back, I had a birthday. And I must have been hinting pretty hard about wanting a cake. In fact, I know I was. 

A few days before my birthday, Mr. PL and I were watching something on TV and someone was messing up some baking...dropping the egg right into the flour or something like that. I wondered aloud about how it was they didn't know about 'wet' and 'dry' ingredients. Mr. PL said..."I guess baking's a lot like chemistry." Well, I saw my chance.

"Have you ever baked anything?" I asked. "Like cookies? Or a cake?"

"No, I don't think I have," he said.

"Hmmm. You should try it sometime," was my casual reply.

Now, I wasn't hinting with the expectation that my subtle 'request' would be at all acknowledged. But in the back of my mind I thought, "Wouldn't it be sweet if he got my drift and baked me a cake for my birthday?" Poor guys...I mean really. It's no wonder they never know what we're taking about.

Much to my delight, I arrived home on my birthday to find a beautiful cake. And, a funny story about how he tried to blend a hard block of butter with some water and a hand blender, only to end up with butter on the walls. Some of the butter stayed in the bowl and made it into the batter in chunks. His rationale: they'll melt. Well, he was right - the cake was delicious!

He also surprised me with a set of photos that I could post on my blog. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Vanilla...

Maple...

Blueberry....

Cake!

Sweet :)