German Coffee Cake

A bit of a misnomer here, with this recipe given to me by follower Chris, who has passed several recipes on to me before. Photos sent to me, of two scraps of paper with this delicious recipe written on them, for me to decipher! With added hints from Chris. The recipe was given to Chris by a friend and it came from this friend’s great grandmother, who was a governess in Russia during the Revolution. Of course, the cake is to be eaten with a cup of coffee! And what an unusual method too. A lovely, very rich yeast based cake that needs little kneading, for those who don’t like that! Please see my notes at the bottom.

The quantities are in cups and I do enjoy using this method. Cups are readily available in any cookshop or supermarket, if you don’t have them, they are very handy. They come in a little stack of four - 1, ½, ¼ and ⅓rd.

Dissolve a packet of active dried yeast [or 3 teaspoonfuls] in ¼ cup of warm water for 5 mins. [not quick yeast]

Add ½ cup of whole milk that has been scalded [make sure it does not boil] and cooled to lukewarm. [OR ¼ cup boiling water and ¼ cup of evaporated milk]. Add ¾ cup of plain flour and beat well, then cover and set aside to rise until doubled in size.

Mix together: 

¼ cup butter [close to melting] 

½ cup sugar - I decided to use soft light brown

2 eggs

large pinch salt

Add the above to the risen yeast mixture, along with 1½ cups of plain flour. Mix well, then add ½ cup of assorted chopped nuts eg walnuts, brazils, hazelnuts, ½ cup of assorted glacé fruits and ½ cup of raisins [or golden sultanas]. Knead carefully into the dough. After a light knead place into a large buttered loaf tin and set aside in a warm spot to rise once more. Approx double in size.

Pre heat your fan oven to 160C and bake for about 45 ins.

Notes: The assorted glacé fruits would have consisted of cherries, citrus peels, pineapple etc. Lime would be good if you can get it in a deli, to add to the range of bright colours. I used finely chopped mixed peel this time and walnuts and almonds for the nuts.

The cake is very similar to a rich, dense Panettone. We loved it buttered too and toasted!!!

Well I never, what a surprise this delicious cake was. Thanks Chris. You are a star.