Friends, we are living in extraordinary times. Let’s make it extra extra extraordinary and bake a blackberry kuchen! What is a kuchen, you ask? Kuchen is a German coffee cake made from an enriched yeast dough (eggs, butter, sugar, flour salt, and yeast). It is crowned with a streusel topping, and fresh blackberries. So delicious! I adapted this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s Apple Blackberry Kuchen recipe. (Steps onto soap box) Before we get started, however, I want you to do me a favor and put on a mask. As much as this blackberry kuchen is very yummy, the Coronavirus is very bad. I should know. I’ve had it. Even though I’m through the worst of the worst, and my symptoms were considered “mild”, there have been some lasting effects that are down right scary. Most days I’ve trouble breathing. My pulmonologist at Mount Sinai believes that my lungs are having a difficult time breathing air fully out. Some days my mind is so foggy that I can’t think straight– I even have a hard time reading. And once or twice a week I have dizzy spells. They don’t last long, but it’s alarming none-the-less. Friends, I want you to stay healthy. I want you to stay happy. Please keep baking. Please wash your hands. And please wear a mask. (Steps down from soap box, and puts on apron)
(Walks into kitchen) Okay, let’s get to baking! Mix together yeast and scalded milk. Stir in eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, ground cinnamon, and flour. Once combined, cover the dough with a damp towel and set aside for 30 minutes.
Hello, handsome!
Next, pour sugar and salt over top of the dough. Using a dough scraper, repeatedly fold the dough onto itself until the sugar and salt disappear into it.
Place softened butter on top of the dough, and again, repeatedly fold the dough onto itself until the butter is well absorbed.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. (Seven year old son takes photo below)
Place the dough in a greased bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set it aside to rise until doubled in size (about an hour and a half), or place in the refrigerator to rise overnight.
Hello, sailor!
Press the dough down into a prepared 11-inch round cake pan, or a 13-inch by 9-inch jellyroll pan.
Top with an egg wash, streusel topping, lemon zest, and blackberries.
Bake in a 400º F. oven until the dough is golden brown, and the streusel has set (about 20 to 25 minutes).
Enjoy! Stay well. Wear your mask. (Turns off kitchen light, and exits)
Notes
Special equipment needed: 11-inch round cake pan or a 13” by 9” jellyroll pan, instant-read thermometer, damp cloth, large mixing bowl, dough scraper, food processor, pizza cutter
Ingredients
For the cake
- ½ cup Whole Milk
- 1 tsp. (about half a packet) Rapid Rise Yeast
- 2 Eggs, at room temperature and lightly beaten
- ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
- Grated Zest from half a Lemon
- ¼ tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 2 and ¼ cups (281 g) All-Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 TBS Sugar
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter, softened
For the topping
- 1/3 cup (42 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/8 tsp. Salt
- 2 TBS Ground Almonds
- ¼ tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 2 TBS Granulated Sugar
- 2 TBS Demerara Sugar
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter, cold and diced
- 1 and 2/3 cup Blackberries
- Grated Zest of ½ Lemon
For assembly
- Egg Wash (1 Large Egg beaten with a TBS of cream and a pinch of ground cinnamon)
- Streusel topping (see above)
- Sliced Almonds
Instructions
To make the cake
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring the milk almost to a boil. When the temperature of the milk reaches between 185 degrees F. and 200 degrees F. remove the milk from the heat. If you don’t have an instant read thermometer then heat the milk until it forms a thin skin on top. Make sure it does not come to a boil!
- Pour the scalded milk into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool until lukewarm (about 110 degrees F.)
- Add the yeast to the milk and mix.
- Mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and cinnamon.
- Finally, mix in the flour, and then cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Pour the sugar and salt over top of the dough, and using a dough scraper repeatedly fold the dough onto itself until the sugar and salt have been well incorporated.
- Place the bits of the softened butter on top of the dough, and once again repeatedly fold the dough onto itself until the butter has been well incorporated.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 10 minutes. The texture of the dough will transform from sticky, and greasy to smoother and glossy as you knead away. To be absolutely sure the dough has been kneaded enough perform the window-pane test. Pull off a small piece of the dough and stretch it thin. If it is able to be thin enough where light can come through (like a window pane), but strong enough in which it does not break then it is good to go. Well done.
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to double in size (about an hour and a half), or you could place it in the refrigerator overnight.
- If you chose to set the dough aside at room temperature for about 1 and ½ hours, then punch it down now. If you let it rest overnight in the refrigerator then good morning! Take that dough out of the fridge, and let it come to room temperature (about an hour). Go make yourself a cup of coffee. Once the dough is at room temperature punch it down.
- Press the dough into either an 11-inch round cake pan or 13-inch by 9-inch jellyroll pan. Whichever pan you use make sure it is lightly greased beforehand.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
To make the streusel topping
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, ground almonds, ground cinnamon, granulated sugar, demerara sugar, and the cold diced butter, until it becomes a clumpy mixture.
To assemble:
- In a medium-sized bowl, gently mix together the blackberries, and lemon zest.
- Brush the egg wash over top of the dough.
- Sprinkle the blackberries, and lemon zest over top, and then sprinkle the streusel over that. Finally, top with a handful of sliced almonds.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the dough is a deep golden brown, and the streusel has set.
- Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Slice it up with a pizza cutter. Enjoy!
