Tim Brown's Blog: Posts tagged 'German'urn:http-www-timb-net:-tags-German-html2014-09-02T18:08:00ZMarble-Gugelhupfurn:http-www-timb-net:-blog-2014-09-02-marble-gugelhupf2014-09-02T18:08:00Z2014-09-02T18:08:00ZTim Brown<html>
<p><span class="Smaller">Bear with me... this is my first post in Frog’s “scribble” format... so
you will see it published and republished as I get my head around it.</span></p>
<p><img src="/img/posts/2014-08-31-marble-gugelhupf/gugelhupf-slice.png" alt="A slice of
Gugelhupf (and I'm going to need a food photography course!)" class="r-floater" height="156" width="138" /></p>
<p>Anne has a earthenware <span class="sroman">Gugelhupf</span> mould (form?) and when we were last at the German Deli
(<a href="http://hanselandpretzel.co.uk">Hansel & Pretzel</a> – worth a visit if you’re within
striking distance of Ham/Richmond) there were some at the counter.</p>
<p>“Ah, but we have the means to make this at home, we should try to make it ourselves”, thought I.</p>
<p>And so I did. (We didn’t feel too bad about not buying <span style="font-style: italic">their</span> cake, since we had also stocked up
with all sorts of sausages and other German goodness).</p>
<p>I have cooked this cake twice (so far)... once at the weekend for friends, and because it was so
splendid, again tonight for my work colleagues.</p>
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<p>I needed a recipe, and the traditional recipes require a lot of <span class="sroman">Kartoffelmehl</span> – starch to you
and me – and I’ve not really cooked with starch, so I cowardly chose to follow the recipe below
(which I found on the Interwebs, of course).</p>
<p>The form is glazed, but the batter is too sticky not to stick to glass. So you’ll need to protect it
with a layer of butter, with flour (or breadcrumbs seem traditional) sprinkled upon
it<span style="vertical-align: super; font-size: 80%">†</span>.</p>
<p>This is, as much as anything a log of what I did – so I can reproduce at will! If you have a kitchen
set up exactly like mine, you can follow the instructions exactly as I write them. Otherwise, they
should be treated as kind of guidelines.</p>
<h1><a name="(part._.Equipment)"></a>Equipment</h1>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">The <span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="sroman">Gugelhupf</span> Form</span> Itself</span></p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">A Kenwood Chef</span></p></li>
<li>
<p>Either the plastic K <span style="font-weight: bold">Beater or</span> the balloon <span style="font-weight: bold">Whisk</span>... not sure which is better yet</p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">Bowl:</span> a bowl capable of taking the <span style="font-style: italic">375 g flour</span></p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">Jug:</span> a jug capable of taking <span style="font-style: italic">5 eggs</span> and <span style="font-style: italic">½ cup milk</span></p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">Scales</span> to weigh sugar then flour – they can be packed away after that</p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">½ Cup</span> measuring, well cup, really. Which can get put away after the milk goes
into the eggs. <span style="font-weight: bold">TODO:</span> get some left-handed measuring cups with the pouring lips to the
right of the handle</p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">Spoons!</span> Without which you’ll never be able to properly shift the batter, or scoop out
ludicrous amounts of cocoa powder from the container</p></li></ul>
<h1><a name="(part._.Ingredients)"></a>Ingredients</h1>
<p></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">250 g Butter:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>That’s a whole pack... no need to measure, slice it into cubes and drop them straight
into the mixing bowl</p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">250 g sugar:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>Well that’s going to be mixed in straight away. Use
<span style="font-style: italic">Bowl</span> to weigh the sugar into before emptying it into the mixing bowl</p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">375 g flour:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>Weighed out into <span style="font-style: italic">Bowl</span></p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">1 pinch salt:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>Put into flour in <span style="font-style: italic">Bowl</span></p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">1 package baking powder by Dr Oetker:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>Put into flour (and salt) in <span style="font-style: italic">Bowl</span></p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">½ tsp. Vanilla Powder:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>I used: <a href="http://www.ndali.net"><span style="font-weight: bold">“6” Ndali Organic Vanilla Powder</span></a>
which does an awesome job of making the cake, and the kitchen smell vanillary
(this replaces <span class="quoted">1 Package Vanilla sugar Dr Oetker and 1 tsp. liquid
vanilla</span> in the original)</p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">5 eggs:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>into the <span style="font-style: italic">Jug</span></p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">½ Cup (⅛ l) Milk:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>Into the <span style="font-style: italic">Jug</span> with the eggs</p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">3-4 tsp. Cocoa Powder (unsweetened):</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>Green and Black’s ooh!</p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">Butter, Flour (or Breadcrumbs) for the Form:</span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>See the handy hint below</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<h1><a name="(part._.Method)"></a>Method</h1>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold">Preheat oven to 190° C</span>
<br />
Why do I always have to look at the bottom of a recipe to remind me to preheat the oven?</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Grease the <span class="sroman">Gugelhupf</span> form thoroughly<span style="vertical-align: super; font-size: 80%">†</span> (to help release the cake from the form)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Mix butter and sugar</span></span>
<br />I tried to get a nice paste going there</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Add eggs</span></span>
<br />
The milk is in the eggs. When I whisked this the eggs seemed to curdle (which
is odd ’cos there isn’t anything other than dairy and sugar in there).</p>
<p>I ignored that, assuming that the flour would deal with that.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Add baking powder/flour/salt</span></span>
<br />
Already in a mixture waiting in <span style="font-style: italic">Bowl</span>, sifting it in also helps mix these ingredients. This is
where the difference between the beater and the whisk comes in. When I whisked
it, the batter came to a smooth paste – like “Angel Delight” (tasted like it
too, once the chocolate was added later)</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Add vanilla</span></span>
<br />Whisk it in</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Add half of the dough into form</span></span>
<br />
Two things wong here: (1) Unless I’m making it too runny: it’s not a dough,
it’s a batter. That sounds like Tim being a bit pedantic, but it is a
necessary distinction. Because (2) “half of” a dough is easy to measure.
“Half of” a fluid batter in a round bottommed mixing bowl is significantly
less so. So read this as: “Add a fraction of the batter (chosen so as to leave
a similar looking fraction in the mixing bowl) into the form”</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Mix <span style="font-style: italic">remaining</span> dough with cocoa powder</span></span>
<br />
See... the original recipe now uses the word <span style="font-style: italic">remaining</span>. An
acknowledgement that there is unlikely to be another “half” left in the bowl.
Use the intended amount of cocoa powder anyway, since you want the
<span class="sroman">Guglehupf</span> to have the same degree of chocolatiness no matter how much
batter is left</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Place cocoa dough on top of the other dough</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">With a knife or fork go through the cake several times</span></span>
<br />
I used a fork to scoop from the bottom to the top of the cake once, all the way
round. Then repeated for a second lap (so in effect two scoops were done</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Bake in pre-heated oven on 375° F for 60 minutes</span></span>
<br />
That’s 190° C. Way too long... way too hot! I went to check my cake at 45–50
mins, and although the oven was preheated to 190°, it went down to 170–180
fairly soon. I want cake, not charcoal.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Test the cake for cookedness</span></span>
<br />
<span class="quoted">Do the test with a needle or knife: Poke into the cake to check if it is
done. If the needle is still sticky, the cake is not done.</span> I used a bamboo
skewer. I put it into the cake... and it came out sticky. I put it in again,
and it was still sticky! Then I realised that since it’s made of bamboo, it
will always be sticky unless the cake is capable of changing the very nature of
bamboo. However, I could tell that the <span class="sroman">Gugelhupf</span> was cooked by the fact
that the batter no longer glued itself to the stick.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Let cool off</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Take out of the form</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><span class="quoted">Dust with powdered sugar</span></span>
<br />
Here’s a thing: I went to the shops looking for “Icing Sugar”. Turns out that
there are <span style="font-style: italic">Fondant Icing Sugar</span>, <span style="font-style: italic">Royal Icing Sugar</span> and
at Sainsbury’s (which I guess caters for common sugar shoppers like me)
<span style="font-style: italic"><span class="stt">[BLANK]</span> Icing Sugar</span>. Some time I should concern myself with
what the difference is.</p>
<h1><a name="(part._.Version_.Control)"></a>Version Control</h1>
<p></p>
<div class="SIntrapara">The bakes I have done so far have been:
</div>
<div class="SIntrapara">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><2014-08-29 Fri></span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
<p>Used the Plastic “K” Beater</p></li>
<li>
<p>“Alnatura” baking powder</p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-style: italic">Result:</span> nyommed by everyone</p></li></ul></td></tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span style="font-weight: bold"><2014-09-02 Tue></span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p><span class="hspace"> </span></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
<p>Used the Balloon Whisk</p></li>
<li>
<p>Used Doc. Oet’s Baking Powder</p></li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-style: italic">Result:</span> People went for seconds! Heavier than a sponge, lighter than a bread.
So I think we can safely call it a “cake”</p></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
<h1><a name="(part._.Top_.Tips)"></a>Top Tips</h1>
<p>These are things I figured out while making the cake. At least <span style="font-style: italic">I</span> should follow these hints.</p>
<p>† Grease the whole Gugelhupf with butter – in fact I used the “buttery spread” in the
fridge, all I want is “glue”. Put in quite some flour: looking like ⅓ tablespoon? or so.
Knock the flour round the outside circumference of the <span class="sroman">’hupf</span> by tapping the outside. Straight forward
enough.</p>
<p>It’s getting the flour up onto the “cone” in the middle that’s the tricky part. Rather than tapping the flour round, get the cone horizontal, with flour accumulated above
it, and hit it down the axis of the cone. By some weird function of mechanics, this causes the flour
to come down the cone! [The same dynamic forces force the flour to come forward at the bottom of the outside edge, so watch out for it
spilling from there]</p>
<h1><a name="(part._.References)"></a>References</h1>
<p>The original recipe was from: “German World Magazine”. Although I’ve put my own ingredients into
the, er, mix as it were. And found a place for the milk – which was either to slate the cook’s thirst
or completely forgotten in the original recipe.
<a href="http://www.germanworldonline.com/index.php/marble-gugelhupf-cake/">Marble Gugelhupf Cake: GERMAN WORLD MAGAZINE</a></p>
<p>I found this on Kenwood’s site, since I was concerned that the whole thing would come out too heavy.
What I ended up with was <span style="font-style: italic">not</span> a sponge. But for reference, if I want a sponge – I’ll likely
use:
<a href="http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/cooking-with-kenwood/recipes/kitchen-machines-recipes/cakes-pastries-and-biscuits/strawberries-and-cream-sponge">Kenwood’s Idea of how to make a "Strawberries and Cream Sponge"</a></p></html>