Butter
Cake
(with variations)
Ingredients:
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Pastry:
2 envelopes active dry yeast
4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
grated rind of 1 lemon
3 eggs
Butter Topping:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup almonds, blanched, chopped
Cooking:
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Sprinkle the yeast over warm water. Heat milk, sugar, salt and the 1/2
cup butter together until sugar is dissolved and butter melted. Cool to
lukewarm. Add dissolved yeast. Place the flour blended with lemon rind
in a large mixing bowl, make a well in the center. Add yeast-milk mixture
and the eggs. Stir until smooth. Pour into a buttered 9x13-inch baking
pan, spreading dough evenly. Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
Chop the butter into the mixed sugar and cinnamon to form fine particles.
Sprinkle over top of risen batter. Add the almonds. Bake in hot oven (375
F) for 30 minutes, or until top is golden and syrupy.
Variations:
Streuselkuchen:
This is much the same as Butterkuchen (Butter Cake) except that the lemon
rind is omitted from the butter and a crumb topping of 1 1/2 cups flour,
3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup ground almonds and 8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter are
sprinkled over batter. If desired, 1/4 tsp cinnamon may also be added
to the topping mixture.
Apfelbutterkuchen
(a Bremen specialty). Prepare dough as for Butterkuchen, place sliced
peeled apples over top of dough before placing in oven. Cover apples with
same Butter Topping. Almonds are an optional addition.
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