What is kupehope?

[Chef #1506423]

I have an old family cookbook that has some german recipes. There is a recipe for kupehope. It only lists the ingredients, nothing else. Does anyone know what it is? It is not a kuchen. Thanks

[Molly53]

Chef 1506423 wrote:
I have an old family cookbook that has some german recipes. There is a recipe for kupehope. It only lists the ingredients, nothing else. Does anyone know what it is? It is not a kuchen. Thanks

Do you think it might be something like Kugelhopf (click on the link)?



A Gugelhupf or Kugelhupf is a southern German, Austrian, Swiss and Alsatian term for a type of cake. As with the Jewish dish kugel, the name "Gugelhupf" is related to the Middle High German word Kugel meaning "ball" or "globe". In Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia, it is called kuglof, in the Czech Republic it is called bábovka, and in Poland it is called babka. In Upper Austrian dialect it is also called "Wacker" or "Wacka".

Gugelhupf is a big cake, and has a distinctive ring shape or the shape of a torus. It is usually eaten for breakfast or with coffee, at coffee breaks.

Gugelhupf consists of a soft yeast dough which contains raisins, almonds and Kirschwasser cherry brandy. Some also contain candied fruits and nuts. Some regional varieties (Czech, Hungarian and Slovenian) are also filled, often with a layer of sweetened ground poppy seeds.

It is baked in a special circular pan with a central tube, originally made of enamelled pottery. Similar pans are used for making Bundt cakes, a cake baking pan shape in the US derived from the Gugelhupf.

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[1Steve]

[quote="Chef #1506423"]I have an old family cookbook that has some german recipes. There is a recipe for kupehope. It only lists the ingredients, nothing else. Does anyone know what it is? It is not a kuchen. Thanks[/quote]

I think it would be prudent when asking a question like this, that you gave us the list of ingredients. Since you said it's not a kuchen (cake) Molly's answer doesn't seem likely as I consider that a cake. So an ingredient list would at least give us a starting point. Also you said an old "family" cookbook with some German recipes. Is it a published cookbook handed down, or did you mean a handwritten cookbook? The fact that there are only some German recipes , makes me think it's handwritten, especially if all it lists is the ingredients. If so perhaps you can't make out some of the letters in the authors hand writting, or perhaps it's not the name of the recipe, but the last name of the recipes author. Just a few things to think about

[HeatherFeather]

Molly's answer sounds correct to me. A kuchen literally translates into the word "cake" in English, but a true German Kuchen is usually the kind baked in a square or rectangular baking pan, or sometimes a round springform pan. A Kugelhopf is the type baked in what in the US is called a "Bundt" pan, a deep fluted pan with a tube in the center.

[Chef #1506423]

Sorry for not getting back to everyone. Still looking for information about Kupehope. The recipe was found in a book where my late great aunt had written down a lot of family recipes. I found the book going thru some things of my Grandmother about years ago. I am assuming this is a bread or cake of some kind. The recipe only lists ingredients; nothing else. This is exactly how it is written:
12 egg yolks
1 lb butter or 2 cups
1 lb sugar or 4 cups
1 qt milk scald
salt
2 potatoes
raisins
1 yeast
peppernise, coloring
lemon rind and juice
There is no mention of flour.

[Zeldaz]

Curiouser and curiouser. I did find some yeast-raised potato kugel recipes searching for "German potato kugel yeast", but they called for flour or potato starch. Perhaps the aunt knew to add enough flour to attain a certain consistency and just left it out?

[Molly53]

Chef 1506423 wrote:
Sorry for not getting back to everyone. Still looking for information about Kupehope. The recipe was found in a book where my late great aunt had written down a lot of family recipes. I found the book going thru some things of my Grandmother about years ago. I am assuming this is a bread or cake of some kind. The recipe only lists ingredients; nothing else. This is exactly how it is written:
12 egg yolks
1 lb butter or 2 cups
1 lb sugar or 4 cups
1 qt milk scald
salt
2 potatoes
raisins
1 yeast
peppernise, coloring
lemon rind and juice
There is no mention of flour.

It would be very helpful if you could narrow down the area of Germany your family originates from, chef.

[pinky kookie]

The only recipes I found very similar to your descrition are these that maybe you can adapt to your Great Aunt's recipe and adding the raisins, too.

BERKS COUNTY POTATO CUSTARD PIE RECIPE -
http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_0/1997/OCT/13168.html
Source: Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book - Fine
Categories: Pennsylvania Dutch, Pies
Old Recipes, Culinary Arts Press, 1936.
Ingredients:
1 medium Potato
3/4 cup Sugar
2 eeg whites
1/2 Lemon, rind grated
1 pie crust
2 T Butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 lemon, the juice
1/2 cup milk
Boil the potato and mash fine. Add the butter and sugar and stir to a
creamy consistency. Let this mixture cool and then add the beaten egg
yolks, the milk, lemon juice and rind. Mix together well and then fold in
the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a pie pan lined with crust and
bake at 400-F about 25 minutes.

BERKS COUNTY POTATO CUSTARD PIE RECIPE -
By Molly53 - Added October 16, 2007 - no reviews -
http://www.food.com/recipe/berks-county-potato-custard-pie-259329

[Molly53]

pinky kookie wrote:

The only recipes I found very similar to your descrition are these that maybe you can adapt to your Great Aunt's recipe and adding the raisins, too.

BERKS COUNTY POTATO CUSTARD PIE RECIPE -
http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_0/1997/OCT/13168.html
Source: Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book - Fine
Categories: Pennsylvania Dutch, Pies
Old Recipes, Culinary Arts Press, 1936.
Ingredients:
1 medium Potato
3/4 cup Sugar
2 eeg whites
1/2 Lemon, rind grated
1 pie crust
2 T Butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 lemon, the juice
1/2 cup milk
Boil the potato and mash fine. Add the butter and sugar and stir to a
creamy consistency. Let this mixture cool and then add the beaten egg
yolks, the milk, lemon juice and rind. Mix together well and then fold in
the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a pie pan lined with crust and
bake at 400-F about 25 minutes.

BERKS COUNTY POTATO CUSTARD PIE RECIPE -
By Molly53 - Added October 16, 2007 - no reviews -
http://www.food.com/recipe/berks-county-potato-custard-pie-259329

That's so funny that your link from online leads back to a food.com recipe (mine), Pinky. Anyway, this recipe does not come even a little bit close to using a dozen eggs.

[Zeldaz]

The cookies ("peppernise") in the ingredient list would contain flour, but the way they are paired with "coloring" doesn't make sense to me. The recipe is so sketchy I wonder if you'll ever be successful. Good luck!

[duonyte]

[quote="Chef #1506423"]Sorry for not getting back to everyone. Still looking for information about Kupehope. The recipe was found in a book where my late great aunt had written down a lot of family recipes. I found the book going thru some things of my Grandmother about years ago. I am assuming this is a bread or cake of some kind. The recipe only lists ingredients; nothing else. This is exactly how it is written:
12 egg yolks
1 lb butter or 2 cups
1 lb sugar or 4 cups
1 qt milk scald
salt
2 potatoes
raisins
1 yeast
peppernise, coloring
lemon rind and juice
There is no mention of flour.[/quote]

I have recipes like this too, and it's not unusual to have only sketchy information. Here, the experienced cook will add enough flour to make a dough of the right consistency. I suspect the potatoes are cooked and mashed and added to the dough, much as is done in other yeast bread recipes, to add moisture. The "single" yeast is probably a large cake of fresh yeast. Again, the cook who wrote it down knew how to make it, just made a record of some of the ingredients. The pepernise and coloring are a bit confusing, but may have been some kind of personal touch, decoration?

I think it is a kugelhopf, if you say "kupehope" aloud, it sounds a bit like kugelhopf, and if these are very old, it would not be unusual that lack of education or speaking a dialect instead of standard German would have resulted in the name being recorded this way.

The amount of eggs/egg yolks does not surprise me. I have many recipes for a very similar Lithuanian yeastbread called a "boba" which can go from 2 whole eggs to 40 egg yolks.

[Dee514]

I agree with what duonyte said (above).

The "peppernise" would be anise seed, and as to the large number of eggs/egg yolks, keep in mind that "back in the day" what we know as small to medium sized eggs were the common sized eggs used back then. Since modern day recipes use large sized eggs as the standard size in baking, that would account for the use of so many fewer eggs in modernized versions of the old recipes.
Personally, I also think your "kupehope" recipe is for a "kugelhopf" (aka gugelhupf; gugelhopf; kuglof; kouglof; guguluf; kugloh).

I found the following recipe in an old international cookbook I have, they are for a German version of what I know as Italian zeppoli. The only reason I bring up the recipe is because of the ingredient list (no flour), and the directions ("add enough flour" - no amount given). It is not uncommon for old recipes to be written that way.

(Germany)

1 1/2 pkg. yeast
1 qt. warm potato water
2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. hot mashed potatoes
1 c. cream
Sugar
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. cardamom
2 1/2 oz. rose water
1 1/2 c. raisins

Oil for deep frying

Combine yeast and potato water in large bowl; stir until dissolved. Add salt and enough flour to make soft dough; mix well. Let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Combine hot potatoes and cream; add to flour mixture. Add 1/2 cup sugar and remaining ingredients; mix well. Let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Drop by spoonfuls into hot deep fat, turning to brown both sides. Drain on paper towels. Dip into sugar. Serve warm. Yield: 50 to 75 balls.

[Zeldaz]

In my searching, the peppernise is an anise flavored cookie, a variation on the correct spelling of pfeffernusse.

[pinky kookie]

Molly53 wrote:
That's so funny that your link from online leads back to a food.com recipe (mine), Pinky. Anyway, this recipe does not come even a little bit close to using a dozen eggs.

Yes Molly, the recipe I posted for Potato Custard Pie from recipelink.com is exactly the same posted by you here in Food.com, and I know that recipe does not include a dozen of eggs or the 12 egg yolks and the yeast; but the one you posted above for Kugelhopf only has 6 eggs and not 12 egg yolks either, and does not include 2 potatoes and the lemon rind and juice, as in the Chef's description, so that recipe is a mystery until it can be solved, right?.

[Koechin (Chef)]

I have eaten many a Kugelhopf, while living for a while in Bavaria and watching the Bauerin (farmer's wife) making them. However i have never seen a recipe using potatoes or Anis flavored cookies.
All the ingredients in this recipe are wrong for this type of cake.
Sure wished that i could help solve this mystery!