Rose Cake (German Rosenkuchen)
Rosenkuchen is a typical German cake recipe specialty that gets the name from the rose as it looks like a rose. It is made out of a yeast dough and combines 10-12 filled rolls. What a wonderful cake for the Sunday Kaffee und Kuchen table. Your family and friends will love it. It is similar to the filled "Zopf" which is the same dough but it will be braided.
all-purpose flour, unbleached (400 g)
1 egg
sugar (40 g)
1 (0.3 oz) pkg vanilla sugar
butter (100 g)
1 cube fresh yeast (25 g) or 1 pkg dry yeast
milk (125 mL)
1 dash kosher salt
Filling:
milk (125 mL)
1 egg
sugar (100 g)
½ tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts, ground (300 g)
Glaze:
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. sliced almonds
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. apricot jam
1 Tbsp. confectioners' sugar
Combine all-purpose flour, unbleached with 30 g sugar, vanilla sugar and 1 dash salt into a mixing bowl.
Make a mold in the middle where you place the yeast with 1 Tbsp. sugar. Add ⅛ L milk to the yeast and with some all-purpose flour, unbleached stir it until you get a so called pre-dough.
Let pre-dough raise for 10 minutes (it will get bubbly).
Add 1 egg and the soft butter, then with the kneading hooks of the hand mixer knead the dough for 3 minutes.
Cover with a kitchen cloth and let raise for another 30 minutes.
Bring ⅛ L milk and 100 g sugar with cinnamon and cocoa powder to a boil. Remove from heat, then add the ground hazelnuts or walnuts. Let it cool off a bit, then add 1 egg.
On a baking board that is dusted with some all-purpose flour, unbleached roll the dough to a rectangle (12x16", 30x40 cm).
Spread the filling on top but not around the edges for about 1".
Roll it from the longer side and cut in 10-12 slices.
Place the rolls with the cutting edge down in a greased spring form (26 cm or 10")
Cover and let raise for another 20 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 375°F (190°C/170°C fan, Gas Mark 5).
Mix egg yolk with water and brush it over the cake; sprinkle with almond slices
Bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.
When the cake is done, glaze it right away with the apricot jam. Before serving dust it with confectioners' sugar.
Cook's Notes:
- The filling is not sweet, if you like it sweet add some sugar to it.
- Add raisins and/or marzipan
- Vary it with a poppy seed filling
- Use vanilla pudding for the filling use the one from Dr. Oetker or make your own pudding