kringel (coffee cake)

This is the traditional Latvian birthday cake, when shaped as a pretzel. Served also on other family occasions, or as the centre piece in a dessert smorgasbord.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp. spanish saffron, very finely crumbled or ground
• 1/4 cp. boiling water
• 2 Tbsps. yeast
• 1/2 cp. warm water
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 4 1/2 cps. flour
• 2 cps. table cream, warm
• 1/2 lb. butter
• 1/2 - 1 cp. sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cps. golden raisins
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 lemon, grate rind and keep juice to put in dough
• 1 orange, grate rind only (you can then eat the orange!)
• 1/2 cp. whole or slivered almonds (for decoration)
• 1 egg, beaten with about 1 Tbsp. water (for decoration)
• icing sugar (for decoration)

Preparation:

• Preparation ahead of time:
• Take eggs and butter out of fridge, and let come to room temperature.
• Crumble saffron into 1/4 cup boiling water and let stand
• warm cream (on extremely low heat in a saucepan).
• grate the orange rind and lemon rind, reserving the lemon juice for the kringel dough
• into the 1/4 cup of warm water mix the teaspoon of sugar, and sprinkle yeast on top of water
• let stand (about 10 minutes) until bubbled up
  
  Mixing the dough:
• in a large bowl, combine warm cream with yeast mixture and add half of the flour
• Mix well
• Cover and let rise for half an hour in a warm place
• Meanwhile, cream butter with sugar
• Add egg yolks one at a time
• whip until light
• add raisins to remainder of flour
• add butter/sugar/egg mixture to risen dough/yeast/flour mixture
• now, in a very large bowl, mix together everything (except the items used for decoration).
• mix until dough is smooth
• cover and let rise again in warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour)
• Place risen dough on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.
  
• Possible shapes:
  The traditional shape is a large pretzel shape. This is the way it is usually presented as a birthday "cake", or for a formal occasion.
  
• Pretzel shape:
• grease a cookie sheet.
• Stretch dough into a long, fat roll with tapered ends.
• Place the centre of the roll onto the middle of the long side of the cookie sheet.
• Make a pretzel shape by twisting the ends into the centre and placing them on the middle of the cake
• Smooth and even out the "pretzel" until the two pretzel holes are about the size of a cup
  
• Loaf shape:
• grease a cookie sheet
• cut dough into 3 even parts
• roll into strands and make a large plump braid
• alternately just place dough into 2 loaf pans
  
• Cake shape:
• grease and flour a large Bundt cake tin (or two smaller ones) and place dough in it
  
• Preparing cake for baking:
  Brush surface of dough with beaten egg/water mixture. Sprinkle or decorate with almonds. Let rise again. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  
  Baking and presentation:

• bake until golden brown (about 35 - 45 minutes)
• let cool in/on pan
• if you have them, place paper doilies on a large platter and place kringel on them
• dust with icing sugar
• garnish imaginatively: with candles, bows, candies, flowers, etc.
• enjoy!

Country:

latvia

Prepared: 2004-04-21

Categories: Cake
Desserts
International