photo courtesy Winter in the Alps by Manuela Darling-Gansser
This post, as far as I am concerned, stands on its own in terms of the validity of its subject matter – in my eyes, as an eyes-closed dreamy aroma, and thus, on my palate. However, and not an insignificant aside, it is even more exciting for me this morning to find that I may have indeed found a little link to my long lost and forever-etched memory of the Honey Loaf from The Charleston Garden Bakery at B. Altman (circa 1960s and 70s happy eating for me) which is long gone but never forgotten. (You know if you read this blog that I have obsessed about and tried, often with frantic hope, to find this recipe for well over 30 years). But, I digress and I will tie this in later…….
You know from my earlier post this week that I have been reading Manuela Darling-Gansser’s Winter in the Alps. There are so many recipes I am dying to make from this book. Perhaps though, none is more enticing to me in the baking genre (surprise!) than her Gugelhopf recipe.
It is not without irony that the American home baker has made practically every imaginable iteration of what is sometimes considered today to be the lowly “Bundt” cake. I for one confess to my obsession with Bundt cakes – they are easy to make, come out looking lovely but not fussy, as I tend to prefer my desserts, and yes, I have found many an excellent and satisfying recipe for them. It is kind of sad that the Bundt cake, with its questionable reputation as depicted, for example, in the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is not immediately associated with its impressive and highly-regarded European recipes of origin, but rather more often with the worst of baking endeavors flowing from the processed/convenience food revolution beginning in the 1950s. As with so many American recipes, in some cases, we have knowingly or unknowingly “evolved” them from their noble origins all the way down to, and yes, I’m going to say it, “box-cake-status”. Ugh. (And yes, I have a son who professes that his favorite cake is the “Funfetti” cake, circa Pillsbury, um, pedigree.)
The Gugelhopf or Kugelhopf or Kouglof – is it cake or is it bread? Ahhh, just one element of the great debate – along with its much disputed origin. We can basically say the recipe originated somewhere in northern Europe, probably around 300 or so years ago and, as with many of our most cherished and pride-inciting recipes, has as part of its story a clammering for “who made it first”. The Gugelhopf is indeed included among the greatest of stories related to the inventions, at least kitchen-wise, to come out of the Hapsburg -Ottoman troubles, that of the croissant. Turbans and flags figure prominently in these stories. How I’d love to time-travel back to this time and spot and be a fly on the wall……… Well, Alsatians would no doubt take great exception to this rendition and you can feel free to read all of the stories and wonder as I do.
Here is a good discussion of the controversy by the venerable Mimi Sheraton: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/23/dining/in-alsace-a-pastry-with-heart-and-history.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Anyway, you can fight over and credit whomever you so desire, but, in truth this noble item to treasure is also a close relative of the Panettone. There, I just invited the Italians into the discussion. Truth is, as you well know, there are multiple renditions of most of the great pastries coming from all of the great pastry-producing countries of western and eastern Europe. And, many if not all of them fall into the category of “disputed origin and date of first creation”.
You will note that there are versions with and without yeast and I wouldn’t put it past myself to consider as a personal challenge, to try out each and every recipe I can find and do a PhD-like dissertation on the subject.
In Manuela’s book, she notes that this cake is traditionally eaten at Christmastime and served for tea, but honestly, I can’t imagine that if you had one of these superlatives in the house, that you wouldn’t, like a mouse, sneak into the kitchen and nibble-down, until it is gone. There are many baked items which I have sereptitiously indulged in as substitutes for otherwise “normal” meals in my mind as I ate them – like “I’ll just have one of these instead of lunch today-type self-deceptions).
Manuela’s cake looks so of perfect crumb and alluringly elegant texture – that you can practically inhale the rich and dreamy fragrance right off the picture. I am tempted to go into the kitchen and bake one right now. I wish I had someone to give this to today, because I just don’t trust myself…….
If you follow me on facebook you will see that I shared David Lebovitz’s post( http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/02/vandermeersch-k/) today on his visit to the wonderful Vandermeersch in Paris and his photos of the “Kouglof” from there. His post says it all about the temptation of this lovely item.
Anyway, here is Manuela’s recipe for Gugelhopf. It is notable that this is a non-yeasted variety – more uncommon than most — but that also means you can run into your kitchen and make this right away! And, definitely not just for Christmas!
GUGELFOPF – recipe courtesy of Manuela Darling-Gansser
9 oz unsalted butter at room temperature
7 0z superfine sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 organic eggs
1 lemon zested and juiced
5 0z raisins, soaked in the lemon juice
1 lb 2 oz unbleached self-rising flour, sifted
10 fl oz cream
confectioner’s sugar
Preheat oven to 350F.
Butter the gugelhopf tin thoroughly with melted butter. Refrigerate the tin for 20 minutes, then add a little flour to the tin, shake it all around, and turn the tin upside down and give it a tap to remove any excess.
Beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the salt and then the eggs one at a time, mixing very well after each addition. Add the lemon zest, raisins and any leftover lemon juice and combine.
Now add some of the flour and fold it in, then add some of the cream. Continue adding flour and cream until they are all used. Pour the batter into the tin and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 1 hour.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the rim of the tin before you turn it upside down onto a serving plate. Let it cool completely. To serve, dust with confectioner’s sugar. As a variation, stir in about 200g chopped dark chocolate through the cake batter before baking (omitting the raisins if you prefer). This will give you a chocolate speckle. Serves 8.
Of course, there are many ways to play with this recipe and I encourage you to make it this way first and then go on to experiment.
Ok so, back to my obsession with the Honey Loaf. While reading David Lebovitz’s post on Vandermeersch, I see that he states, “the buttery yeasted cakes, have a slight bread-like texture and are soaked with a syrup that has a touch of orange flower water in it, so they’re nice and moist. The bundt-like cakes are rolled in grains of sugar with give them a sweet-crackly crunch.” And here is the “ah-hah” moment for me – perhaps, even though I have tried to recreate the honey loaf in many possible ways, I should in fact try to do this soaking – with honey rather than the orange flower water, after baking and then do some rolling of the loaf in sugar – even though this may still not the crunchy honey finish for which this loaf was famous – it is worth experimenting with this approach. I don’t know why this hasn’t occurred to me before, or perhaps it has, but I am game to try again. Or……… perhaps I should go over to Vandermeersch and discuss my dilemma with them and see what they say??? Oh yes.
Note: the last person I discussed the Honey Loaf with was the kindest saleslady in Bloomingdales in Short Hills – about 3 or so years ago, who knew the baker from her days at B. Altman. She actually, so graciously tried to contact him – she said he had moved to Florida. And, she did get back to me and said she couldn’t locate him and perhaps sadly, he had died. I believe she also said he was of Czechoslovakian descent. Hmmm. Onto another avenue of investigation.
Well, I am so definitely rambling here, it’s getting late, and I’ll stop. If you are anything like me, recipes such as these have a romantic and nostalgic quality – but even if you are nothing like me, go ahead and try this – it is relatively easy and I don’t think you will be sorry with the results.
Here is David Lebovitz’s rendition via Nick Malgieri’s A Baker’s Tour: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/11/kugelhof/ . After you compare, then go on to experimenting with all of those you can find and, have fun! I know I plan to. 🙂