M Bakes #1: The Challenge - Gugelhupf

So, I can still tease you in the new year too. That is a relief! LOL! No, this was not a challenge from me to you but one for me. However, you did get my mind churning on a new idea .... let's see ... later!

For my first M Bakes session I decided to cash in on a challenge. Actually it was something I was waiting for, considering I was the one that started it!

I guess I should start at the beginning of the story.

Once upon a time in the Queendom of Blog many bloggers got together to join in a summer event called - Blogger Postcards Around The World. Each blogger was to send another blogger a postcard via snail mail. It was during this event that the Mets met the Cream Puff. The Mets decided to be cheeky and in her postcard she challenged the Cream Puff. The Cream Puff was no amateur to the game that was for sure and she accepted the challenge graciously.
Many months passed and both the Mets and the Cream Puff became friends exchanging mails and having a few giggles. However, the Mets knew that one day she would be challenged by the Cream Puff. Surely that day came when the Cream Puff crossed the huge pond to travel lands far from home. During these travels she sent the Mets wonderful postcards of her escapades.


Then one day, and very appropriately she received this postcard from Vienna.


The Challenge from the Cream Puff was to bake the cake on the postcard!

Well here I am today. I have taken on the challenge and present to you the Gugelhupf. There were actually two variations of the recipe on the postcard. One was a plain cake with raisins and another one was adding cocoa powder to half of the batter and marble the cake.


I decided to go for the chocolaty version of the cake for two reasons:

1. I am a chocoholic and cannot resist chocolate in any dish.
2. I have never marbled my own cake.

As I am prone to do before I start any new project, I researched the technique of marbling. The great thing was I did not have to look very far. I was lucky to have a brilliant baking cookbook right on my shelf.



Easy Marbling
For those of you who have the cookbook you'll find the details on page 229. For the others who don't and are also beginners to this technique, I have summarized what Dorie writes.

To marble cakes it is necessary to have two contrasting colors - a dark and a light type of batter. You can flavor each batter as you desire. Using spices, ground nuts or dried fruit always make a good alternative. Make sure that the dough is not runny or too thick.

The easiest method to marble cakes is by dropping spoonfuls of dark and light batter randomly into the pan. Dip a table knife deep into the bater and zigzag the knife through the batter. Make only 6 to 8 zig and zags - more will cause the batter to mix with each other into an icky looking mush!

Another technique will produce regular patterns in your cake. Spoon the batter out in alternating rows, or if using a round pan, in rings.
Example:
Make the first layer in the pan with three rows - light, dark, light. Now a second layer on top of this, but this time the rows would be - dark, light, dark. When the batter has been used up, use the same zigzag method mentioned above, with fewer zigzags.

Then there is the method I used for this Gugelhupf. Simply pour pour one colored batter then top it off with the other one or make three layers - light on top and bottom and dark in the middle (or the other way round). Then do the zigzag!

As I also had a lot of chocolate leftover from Christmas baking I decided to melt some and pour it as a cake coating after it was baked.

Cheers Ivonne - thanks for this one.

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Ingredients:

300g Butter - at room temperature
150g Icing sugar
150g Sugar
3 Eggs
4 Egg yolks
4 Egg whites
240g Flour
30g Cocoa powder
Vanilla sugar
Lemon zest
Chocolate for coating

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Method:

Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

In a bowl beat the butter with the icing sugar until creamy. Add the whole eggs one by one, beating each in for about a minute or so. Beat in the egg yolks.

In another mixing bowl whisk the egg whites with the sugar until they peak. Fold this mixture into the butter-egg batter.

Add the flour and fold into the batter gently. Now divide the batter in thirds. Depending on how you want to marble your cake, flavor the light batter with the lemon zest and vanilla sugar and add the cocoa powder to either one portion or to two portions of the batter.

In a bundt cake form pour in the different colored batter using your preferred marbling method.

Bake the cake for approx. 1 hour.

In the meantime melt the chocolate in a bowl placed on top of a pot with boiling water.

Take out the cake out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Then tip it out on a rack. Pour the melted chocolate over the top and allow to cool through.

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Verdict:

Although this is a very basic tasting cake I was really glad that I got a chance to try out the marbling effect. The cake was soft and moist and really perfect. The chocolate coating on top gave it a great crunch and thinking that it was all on a postcard from Vienna made it taste even better.

Thank you Ivonne for challenging me to try something new.

Did you know that this week is the De-Lurking Week (January 8 - 12)? Come out of the closet and let me know that you are there. Leave a comment and share your ideas with me. I won't bite! Actually I'd love to hear from you! So go on do something daring - De-Lurk!

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