How to make a fragrant cake with a delicate crumb? Just use this recipe!
In my 33 years, I have never baked cakes in my life. They were always cooked by my mother or her sister. Recently I also tasted Easter cake at my mother-in-law, but I decided to cook it myself just now.
I decided not to waste time on trifles and immediately cook something really tasty. I chose the recipe from the professional pastry chef Maria Selyanina and was right. The cakes turned out to be incredibly fragrant and with a delicate crumb.
I started cooking them at 9 am and finished around 11 pm. But I must admit that my work directly took only 2 hours. Let's cook!
A step-by-step recipe on how to cook Easter cake
Opara
- Milk 375 g
- Flour 300 g
- Fresh yeast 50 g
- Sugar 30 g
Stir sugar in warm milk (35-37 ° C), then yeast and flour last, so that there are no lumps. Cover with a towel and put it in the oven with the light on for 2 hours. The turned on light bulb raises the temperature in the oven to ~ 28-30 ° C. The dough should increase in volume by 3-4 times.
For this recipe, all ingredients must be cold ~ 4 ° C before mixing. Therefore, immediately after kneading the dough, I send them to the cold, I will write in more detail below.
Dried fruits
- Raisins 500 g
I soaked the raisins in whiskey (another 40 ° alcohol is also possible) and put them in the refrigerator. Some of the raisins can be replaced with other dried fruits or candied fruits made from orange or lemon peels.
Dough
- Flour 700 g
- Sugar 360 g
- Butter 300 g
- Egg yolks 300 g
- Honey 100 g
- Salt 10 g
- Ground cardamom 4 g
- Ground nutmeg 3 g
- Zest of 2 oranges
- Zest of 2 lemons
I send the flour to the mixing bowl, add honey and salt and, without stirring, put it in the refrigerator.
I pour the sugar into a separate bowl, rub the zest of orange and lemon on top. Add yolks and whisk until combined. I put it in the refrigerator.
Cut the butter into cubes and sprinkle with spices on top. I put it in the refrigerator and take it out just before the batch starts.
Dough kneading
When the dough has risen, I start kneading the dough. I put a bowl of flour in a mixer with a dough kneading attachment (hook), add dough and mix. Gradually pour in the mixture of yolks, without stopping the batch. I continue kneading until the dough gathers into a ball around the hook. It took me 20 minutes at medium speed.
In several stages I add butter and mix. Add candied fruits, mix until smooth.
Grease a large container with butter and transfer the dough into it. I make 4 folds - I take the dough in the middle, lift it up, then lower it down so that the dough folds. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature.
I repeat folding 3 times every hour.
After the last folding, I divide the dough into parts, for laying out in baking tins. The dough should occupy ⅓ of the mold. I knead each part of the dough, form it into a ball and put it in a mold. Cover with cling film and leave for proofing until it doubles in volume. It took me 3 hours.
Baking
Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. I sprinkle cakes with water from a spray bottle. Before placing the cakes in the oven, I spray the oven with plenty of water to generate steam. If you have a steam oven, just give a lot of steam.
Immediately after placing the cakes in the oven, I lower the temperature to 140 ° C and bake for 40-50 minutes. Then I raise it to 160 ° C and bake for another 10-20 minutes. I check the readiness with a thermometer. The cake should be baked to a temperature of 90-92 ° C.
I decided to use Italian meringue for the glaze. To do this, add 40 g of sugar to 100 g of proteins and beat for a couple of minutes until a foamy state. In a ladle, I bring 160 g of sugar and 45 g of water to a temperature of 118-120 ° C. I turn on the mixer at a slightly above average speed, pour in hot syrup and beat until stable peaks.
This amount of glaze was enough for me to cover all my 5 cakes. To add effect, he burned it with a gas burner. If there is no burner, send the cakes to the oven on the top shelf and burn them at 200 ° C for 5-7 minutes.
Do you bake cakes or buy?