Streusel Cake

A very easy and quick option in the pastry kitchen is a cake with fruit. For the production, a sweet yeasted dough is prepared. After a short rise, this is rolled out and placed in a baking form. This is then covered with fresh or frozen fruit. 

In order to keep the fruit juicy after baking, it is covered with either a streusel or “grated short-crust”. In order to grate the short-crust pastry, you have to work with it straight from the refrigerator. 

As a basis for the short-crust, the ratio of 3:2:1 is used (3 parts flour: 2 parts butter: 1 part sugar). To give the short-crust a unique flavor, it can be made with finely chopped nuts, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, etc. 

Recipe

For 2 pans or 1 baking tray (597g dough weight):

Short-crust pastry:

  • 210g Wheat flour Type 700
  • 140g Butter
  •   70g Powdered sugar

Knead all the ingredients by hand and flavor as desired (cocoa, nuts, cinnamon, etc.). Then store it in the refrigerator. 

Sponge:

  • 132g Wheat flour Type 700
  • 132g Milk
  •   10g Yeast

After mixing, cover the sponge and let it rise for 1 hour at room temperature. 

Main dough:

  • 274g Sponge
  • 143g Wheat flour Type 700
  •   55g Honey
  •   50g Whole egg (1)
  •   20g Egg yolk (1)
  •   50g Butter
  •     5g Salt
  •  + Zest from an organic lemon/orange

Mixing time: 6 minutes slow and 5 minutes fast

Instructions:

  • After making the dough, let it rise for 20 minutes. Then the dough is divided and set aside for a further 20 minutes.
  • After each piece has risen, it is then rolled out and placed in a greased pan. 
  • Prick the dough all over with a fork and cover it completely with fruit. If the dough is covered with berries, then I recommend sprinkling the dough with cake crumbs before adding the fruit (these will soak up the juice from the berries during baking). 
  • After laying on the fruit, crumble on the short-crust or streusel. 
  • Now let the finished cake rise for 45 minutes at room temperature (if using frozen fruit the rise can take a bit longer).
  • Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C.
  • The cake is baked for about 25-30 minutes (this depends on the size of the pan/thickness of dough!!).
  • “After baking the pan needs to be placed on a cool surface! This prevents it from continuing to bake from the hot cast iron pan. As soon as the pan has cooled a bit, it should be covered with cling film- this causes the cake to sweat and keeps it tender and fresh for longer.”