Global Holiday Recipe: Gugelhopf Cake

Holiday Feature

Gugelhopf

Makes 1 cake; Serves 16

Chef Stacy Radin: This European cake traditionally contains raisins and almonds, and may have been created to commemorate the defeat of the Turkish army in Vienna in the seventeenth century. The mold is said to look like a Turkish turban. A regular bundt pan can be substituted if you don't have a gugelhopf mold.

1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries
Dark rum for soaking
2 cups bread flour
2 cups cake flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 cup milk
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
Sliced almonds for lining molds
Powdered sugar for dusting

In a small bowl, soak the raisins and dried cherries in dark rum to cover for at least 1 hour. Sift together the bread flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or an electric mixer with paddle attachment to cream the butter and granulated sugar until light. (Do not whip.) Slowly cream in the eggs, one at a time. Alternately add the milk and sifted dry ingredients in thirds. Drain the dried fruit and add along with the lemon zest.

Grease a 10 inch gugelhopf mold with butter and sprinkle it with sliced almonds. Pour in the batter and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a knife or wooden skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan before turning out. Using a fine sieve or sifter, dust with powdered sugar and slice the cake into 16 portions.

From:

Cooking secrets of The CIA
by The Culinary Institute of America
Photography by Pavlina Eccless
Price: $14.95 (paper)
Chronicle Books
ISBN: 0-81 18-1 163-8
Recipe reprinted by permission.