№ 39VIII. nodaļa

Koku karaša

Baumkuchen, grilled in layers

  • Serves 12
  • about 2 hours
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Kohku karrascha.

Modernizētslpp. 339–342 · PDF 353–356
12 porcijas

The book gives 30 eggs, 2 mārciņas of butter, 1½ mārciņas of sugar, 1 lots of cinnamon, the zest of 3 lemons, 1 stops of cream and 2½ mārciņas of flour, which converts to about 840 g butter, 630 g sugar, 13 g cinnamon, 1.275 l cream and 1.05 kg flour. We've used a sixth, and bake it under the grill instead of on a spit (see Notes).

Method

8 soļi
  1. Clarify the butter: melt it gently, skim off the foam and pour the clear fat into a bowl, leaving the milky sediment behind. Let it cool until lukewarm.
  2. Beat the yolks with the sugar, lemon zest and spices for about 5 minutes with an electric mixer, until thick and pale. Beat in the lukewarm butter in a thin stream, then beat for 2 minutes more.
  3. Add the flour a spoonful at a time, beating, then beat for 2 minutes. Beat in the cream a little at a time. The batter should flow like a thick pancake batter.
  4. Whisk the whites until stiff and fold them in last.
  5. Heat the grill to high and set a shelf so that the top of the tin will be 12–15 cm below it. Line the base of a 20 cm springform tin with baking paper and butter the sides.
  6. Spread about 3 tbsp batter thinly and evenly over the base. Grill for 2–3 minutes, until evenly golden brown; watch it, as it can burn in seconds.
  7. Take the tin out, spread another 2–3 tbsp batter over the top and grill again. Carry on until the batter is used up: 18–22 layers, 60–75 minutes in all. As the cake grows closer to the grill, the layers brown faster; lower the shelf if you need to.
  8. Sprinkle the top with the sugar and cinnamon and leave the cake in the tin until cold. Run a knife round the edge, unmould and trim the top and bottom level. Cut thin slices so the rings show.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the book has a turner make a wooden cone ½ ell (about 27 cm) long or a little longer, nearly as thick as a small plate at the bottom and much thinner at the top, bored through so it fits on a roasting spit. It is wound tightly with thin string, the ends tied to small nails, and roasted with butter in front of the fire for a couple of hours before use; a new cone must be roasted many times, or the cake tastes of wood. The yolks are beaten with a wooden pestle with the sugar, lemon zest and spices, the melted clarified butter goes in little by little, then half an hour's beating, the flour, another half hour, then the cream, and the whites beaten stiff last. When the butter on the turning cone starts to froth, batter is poured over it from a dripping pan, turning slowly at first so the batter runs back and forth and the cake grows spikes and "branches". When a layer browns, the next is poured on, until the batter is used up. The cake is sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and left to cool. Then the string is untied and unwound; if the cone sticks, the thread is pulled round it to free it. The cake is trimmed level, stood upright on a napkin and decorated with small cakes. Grilling in a tin, the amounts and the times are ours.

Why a grill

without a spit and an open fire, layering under a hot grill is the usual home method. It gives the rings but not the spikes. A spit cake needs a rotisserie with a strong radiant heat source and a cone wrapped in baking paper, and is a project in itself.

Variations in the book

the book says the batter can also be made with almonds, saffron, cardamom, cloves or other spices, or the cake studded with raisins and almonds as it bakes, but that the version described is the best. For almonds, fold 50 g ground almonds into the batter with the flour.

Scale

the book's batter weighs about 5.5 kg, a centrepiece for a feast. The ell is not in measures.yml; a Riga ell was 53.75 cm.

The name

koku karaša, "tree cake", like the German Baumkuchen. Lithuania's šakotis (from šaka, branch) and Poland's sękacz are spit cakes of the same family, and the book's spikes and "branches" describe the same look.

← → receptes · S skenējums · V vārdnīca · ⌘K meklēt

esc
↑↓ izvēlēties↵ atvērt