Monday 25 December 2017

King's Cake

Christmas is upon us and this recipe is coming very late indeed! Luckily this is a wonderful cake not only for Christmas but New Year as well and any other occasion in the year!

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This recipe is from my Grandmother's handwritten collection and I love making it at least once a year. For this Christmas I baked several to share with my daughters and their families. Next year I hope they will do the baking, for a change!
Original Recipe in my Grandmothers'
Handwriting
                                                                                     
πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„

Let me translate:
King's Cake  (KΓΆnigskuchen)

250 g butter (room temperature)
200 g sugar
4 eggs
500 g flour
4 tsp baking powder
250 g raisins
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
rum for soaking the raisins (enough to cover them)
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This is how my grandma will note down the ingredients without explaining details. So I will do so instead. Raisins usually means a mix of currants, raisins and sultanas with the addition of chopped candied peel. Raisins also means the said mix has to be soaked overnight with enough rum (brandy as alternative, but it is not as tasty) to cover. Vanilla sugar is always made at home. Split a vanilla pod in half, place in a fairly large glass jar and fill up with sugar. ready for use in a couple of weeks. And never forget a pinch of salt! When asked why she doesn't add it to her list of ingredients she replied that that is a given, everybody knows to add salt! Now let us bake!

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You will need a loaf tin approximately 30 x 10 x 10 cm, lined with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180℃. Drain raisins, reserving the liquid. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla sugar until really fluffy. Now beat in the eggs one at a time until fully worked in. Start adding about a quarter of the flour mix, work in until absorbed. Add juice and zest of the lemon and 2 or 3 Tbsp of the reserved rum. How much to use is determined by the flours' rate of absorption. Add another quarter of flour and mix in thoroughly. Continue until the flour is used up. The dough should drop heavily from the spoon, so do not add to much of the rum (keep the excess for another recipe). Finally add the drained fruit and mix until evenly distributed. Place dough in prepared loaf tin and bake on centre shelf for about one hour. When a skewer inserted comes out clean the cake is ready. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out, remove paper, then place on cooling rack.

If you wish, the cake can be covered with glacΓ© icing to make it more festive (and sweeter)!

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My trusty baking spoon
My triple batch of dough



The finished  KΓΆnigskuchen


Hopefully you will find time soon to make this delectable cake!

Then let me know how you rate it!

A Merry Christmas to everyone!

πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„πŸŽ„

4 comments:

  1. And a most delicious cake it was... Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee because it's not overly sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And a most delicious cake it was... Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee because it's not overly sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you. Next time is your turn in the baking and mine in the eating!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Since I love fruit cake, I'll certainly try this recipe out and let you have some when I do. Thank you Mummy xoxo

    ReplyDelete

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