by sblades 2 Comments
This Moravian Sugar Cake (which surprisingly doesn't have much sugar in it) is amazing to the second power! Another winner recipe from Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts.
If you've been reading my posts for the last two years, you've seen many great recipes from this book - Double Chocolate Pudding, Ligita's Quick Apple Cake, Shoo Fly Cake, Lemon Molasses Marble Cake, and a few more.
I just adore this cookbook and have to thank my friend, Sherlynn, for giving it to me as a gift several years ago. She has incredible taste in cookbooks!
The name of this cake is what caught my eye. I was actually looking for the Fudge Chunk Brownies recipe and just couldn't turn the page from this one.
It intrigues me that this is a yeast-dough cake. The texture is amazing and really is a cross between a yeast bread and a cake. It's hard to describe and is so delicious!
Of course, the brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter slathered on top that turns into a caramely, crunchy, buttery top is a definite draw, too.
The cake has an ultra soft texture with a lightly yeasty flavor. Oh, and the secret ingredient to keep it so moist? Mashed potatoes. Really. You can use leftover mashed potatoes or, like I did, just chop and throw a potato in water and boil for 10 minutes.
Moravia was a part of Czechoslovakia and then was consumed by the Czech Republic. Not much is known about this recipe and all I know is that it's outstanding and surprisingly easy to make. Of course, you have to wait for the dough to rise since it has yeast in it, but the end result is way worth it. Yay Moravia!
Moravian Sugar Cake is one of my new favorites. I halved the original recipe - made it in an 8x8" pan instead of a 13x9" (recipe below is half of the original). Next time the full recipe will definitely be made.
I can see freezing this, too, and having it available if company pops up. Or maybe I'll just keep it for myself.
Update: This cake lasts 3 days wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Microwave for 15-20 seconds and it's still great!
Moravian Sugar Cake
Yield: 9
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Inactive Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Ultra-soft, yeast-dough cake - amazing texture and flavor. Cinnamon butter crunchy top.
Ingredients
- 1 pkg active dry yeast
- 2 ½ tablespoon sugar, divided
- ⅛ C lukewarm milk
- 1 ½ C flour
- ¼ C mashed potatoes
- 3 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ C milk
- Topping:
- ¼ C brown sugar, packed
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ C butter, melted and cooled slightly
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl, stir together the yeast, ½ tablespoon sugar, and the lukewarm milk. Set aside in a warm place until bubbly, about 10 minutes. If it doesn't bubble/foam up, get new yeast!
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, ¾ cup of the flour, the mashed potatoes, butter, egg, salt and milk to the yeast mixture. Mix with a dough hook on medium until the dough begins to come together. It will be quite liquid.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix for 2 minutes longer. Add the remaining ¾ cup flour and mix until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes longer (if still too thin, add another tablespoon of flour - the dough will be sticky, but not runny).
- Dump the dough into a medium buttered bowl; turn to coat on all sides. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Butter the bottom and sides of an 8x8" square pan. Punch the dough down, then set it in the prepared pan. Don't fit it into the pan yet - that will happen after the next rise. Cover again loosely with the plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise again (but not doubled), about 30 more minutes.
- After the second rise, pat the dough gently out to evenly fill the pan to the edges.
- For the Topping: stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle all over the dough. Gently dimple the dough with a finger (about 12 evenly spaced shallow dimples) and drizzle the melted butter over the top. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375° while the cake sits and rises again for 20-30 minutes - until almost doubled in size. Place a cookie sheet or aluminum foil on the rack below the pan in case some of the butter bubbles over the sides of the pan.
- Bake the cake until it's a deep golden brown and crisp around the edges, about 15-18 minutes. Cool briefly in the pan, then run a knife around the edges and turn the cake out onto your cake plate. Serve warm. Wrap leftover cake with plastic wrap and store at room temperature. Warm leftover cake before serving - about 15 seconds in the microwave.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 9Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 207Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 168mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 3g
Nutrition Values are Approximate
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Comments
Marilyn TolanDo you cover it at the 3rd rise?ma
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- sblades
I didn't cover it on the third rise since it had the cinnamon/butter mixture on it. Worked OK! 🙂
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