Streusel Kuchen a La Thoben

Submitted by Renate

"This one is a must eat whenever I am in Berlin, which means getting up and into town early enough to get it fresh from the oven. The cold yeast method makes it one of the fastest yeast cakes ever."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 1 cake

ingredients

• Cake

• 3 1⁄2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons instant yeast
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1 cup evaporated milk, plus
• 2 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 -2 egg (I use 2)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt

• Streusel

• 2 1⁄2 cups flour
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions

1. Dough:

2. If you don't have instant yeast, soften the yeast in the cold condensed milk.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
4. Add softened butter and eggs to milk and mix well.
5. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients, this dough will be soft.
6. Cover tightly and put into refrigerator overnight (will last up to 4 days).
7. Streusels: Mix flour and sugar.
8. Cut in butter.
9. Stir together the egg yolk and vanilla extract.
10. Add to dough and mix well.
11. Remove yeast dough from refrigerator.
12. Knead dough with a little extra flour about 3- 4 minutes, it should not be too sticky.
13. Spread or roll on a greased cookie sheet or lined with baking paper.
14. If needed make edges with folded tin foil.
15. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the cake.
16. Let dough rise for in a warm place until almost doubled.
17. Bake in a preheated 325ºF o 350ºF oven for 25 to 30 minutes until it turns a pale gold.

Reviews

[Berliner Goere]

I have to say, I was very skeptical while making the dough, it was not a pretty sight. Thoben being our favorite bakery though I was quite eager to try and recreate their wonderful cakes. This recipe is probably as close as you can get to the real thing. I did make a couple of minor adjustments though, the Streusel (topping) were a bit dry so next time I will add a bit more butter. Also, in order to make it a true copy I sprinkled some sugar over the cooling cake, as does Thoben. All in all, in came out tasting just like Thoben’s. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Cheryl Buffington]

I have baked a lot of German Kuchen recipes, but never one with “condensed milk” in the yeast dough. I thought I’d give it a try anyway. The dough was heavy as a brick mixing it up, but I followed though the directions. After taking it out of the refrigerator and kneading it, I set it aside to rise. After 2 ½ hours and it didn’t budge, I knew this was going to be a waste but baked it anyway. It was too dry to even eat (but smelled delicious)the whole thing went into the trash. Could it be that it called for “Evaporated milk” and not condensed milk? It sounds so good otherwise!