Wickelkuchen
"How many diapers do you think a baby goes through a week?" I asked Sam when I was about eight and a half months pregnant, baby care book in hand.
He shrugged, "uh, forty? Fifty? No idea."
"It says here eighty."
"Eighty?!"
"Can that be right?"
Oh it's right, alright.
With a newborn at home, I've got 'wickel'-ing on the mind. So, when I saw this recipe in Tip Topf I thought it was a sign for me to make this Wickelkuchen.
Wickeln is the German verb for changing a baby's diaper. But it also just means to wrap something up, as it is used to describe this cake. You take a sweet dough and wrap up a delicious nutty and fruity filling.
Takes your mind off all the diapers…
Dough
300 g flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
60 g butter, room temperature
20 g fresh yeast
100 ml milk, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt.
Cut the butter into flakes and add to the flour mixture.
In a measuring cup, whisk together the milk and yeast. Add the egg and mix well.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and mix well. Knead until the dough is elastic and smooth. You can do this by hand or with a stand mixer.
Once the dough is kneaded, cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Filling
150 g ground almonds, toasted
3 tbsp sugar
1 apple, shredded
zest and juice of half a lemon
6 tbsp cream or milk
In a medium bowl, mix together the toasted almonds and sugar.
Press the juice out of the apple, then add to nut mixture. Add the lemon zest and juice, and cream, then mix well.
Set aside until you are ready to bake.
Assembly
3 tbsp apricot jam
100 g raisins
1 egg yolk
handful slivered or flaked almonds
sugar
Preheat oven to 220 C / 400 F / gas mark 6.
You will need a 35 cm loaf pan. Once the dough has risen, press the air out and roll into a rectangle the width of the loaf pan.
Brush the dough with apricot jam, then sprinkle with the nut filling and the raisins.
Roll both edges toward the middle, until you have a long double tube the size of the pan.
Place in the loaf pan.
Whisk the egg yolk, then brush it on the loaf. Sprinkle with slivered or flaked almonds and sugar.
Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Check the cake after 15 minutes, and if the top is becoming too dark then cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Many substitutions can be made—dried cranberries or apricots for raisins, hazelnuts for almonds, orange juice and zest for lemon etc.
Another great bake?
Fabiana’s Lozärner Lebkuchen
