Christmas Calendar 2015 - Classic Christmas kougelhopf

As I still had some kougelhopf cake using flour mix left from my Summer vacation to Alsace, I decided to try to "tame" this cake, as it last time, when I baked it outgrew my cake form. So this time I only made half the portion.


To twist the taste into more Christmas style, I have used vanilla sugar and dried orange peel. I still have 250 g kougelhopf cake mix left, so I will make another version for some Christmas guests using saffron later on this month.

Classic Christmas kougelhopf: - 1 cake

• 250 g kougelhopf flour mix
• 40 g sultana raisins
• 20 g dried orange pee
• 10 g fresh yeast
• 120 g water
• ½ teaspoon vanilla sugar
• almonds for top decoration

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water in the mixing bowl.
2. Add in the flour mix and vanilla, knead the dough on stand alone mixer, first 3 minutes on speed 1 followed by 10 minutes on speed 4.
3. Add in the raisins and dried orange peel and knead until they are distributed homogeneously in the dough.
4. Let the dough raise at 20'C for 1 hour.
5. Place almonds in the bottom of the kougelhopf form. Place the dough in the form on top of the almonds.
6. Let the dough raise in the form at 30'C for 1½ hour.
7. Heat up the oven (conventional) to 160'C.
8. Bake the kougelhopf in the lower of the oven at 160'C for 50-60 minutes.
9. Cool down the cake, before it is removed from the form.