How to make
Kugelhupf cake is a specialty, small brioche delicately flavored with raisins, rum and orange. A gourmet delight to share with the family. Kugelhupf cake is very famous mainly in Alsace, Southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, where it is a specialty to share with the family.
During the late Middle Ages in Austria, it was served at large public events, garnished with lots of flowers, leaves, candles and seasonal fruit. Its name preserved through the Austro-Hungarian Empire and eventually entered traditional Austrian cookbooks as a sophisticated rich cake. It's an unpopular Christmas cake in our country, but it's so delicious.
Soak raisins in rum or dried cherries with apple (or orange) juice while preparing the dough.
Preparation:
Put the flour in a bowl and make a well.
Put the mixture of yeast, milk and sugar in the well.
Cover everything with a little flour.
Allow the dough to rise for 20 minutes.
Put the egg and the remaining sugar in the well, put the butter and salt on the edge.
Add some orange paste (alternatively you can use some orange peel) but orange paste has such a wonderful aroma, try it.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Add the raisins and stir for another minute or two.
Wet a bowl with your fingers with a drop of oil, shape the kneaded dough into a ball and place it in this bowl, cover it with a towel and leave it to rise in a warm place for an hour and a half.
Degas the dough, grease the mold, add the almonds to the bottom of the mold and pour the dough. Cover it and leave it to double in volume at room temperature.
If working by hand, place dough out onto the kitchen counter and knead for 10 minutes by hitting it on the counter, then bringing it back with the pastry spatula, stretching it out again, gathering, hitting, etc. until it becomes a soft, elastic and smooth dough.
It should be known that initially the dough is very soft and very sticky, but with prolonged kneading it will become smooth and non-sticky. No more flour is added.
Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C) with a fan on or 360°F (180°C) top and bottom resistor wire on.
Bake in a preheated oven on the lower rack. Bake at 360°F (180°C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Leave it to cool before cutting it.
While the Kugelupf is baking, prepare the hot glaze. Bring the sugar and water to a full boil and stir, until the sugar dissolves.
Remove it from the heat and stir the vanilla or almond extract. Keep the glaze warm, in order to use it.
Immediately after removing it from the oven, invert the juicy cake onto a cooling rack placed over the baking tray. Pour the hot glaze with a spoon over the Kugelhupf, so that it covers the cake completely – you can also use a brush to dip and apply the glaze in hard to reach places. Leave the holiday cake to cool completely.
It is best served within a day of it being baked. Enjoy your meal!
