Recipe Challenge: Blankenhainer Kirschkuchen

I sometimes feel isolated and lonely in this tiny town, being shy and unsteady with my language abilities and reluctant to seek out relationships with locals who aren't family. Like a child hiding behind the leg of an adult. It's silly and sad. I've been turning to the internet to find comfort and reassurance in others' similar experiences. AmiExpat is one of the more exceptional blogs that I've discovered recently in this quest for kinship. Its author, Christina, makes some thoughtful and well-written posts from her perspective as an American of Asian heritage raising a family in Germany. I enjoy reading her observances, from the historically-oriented to the personal, and the discussions they provoke in the comments section.

Earlier this year, Christina acquired a German cookbook and resolved to cook every recipe in it -- an ambitious goal on its own, especially knowing that she's got a toddler to juggle as well. It's the Real German Recipe Challenge, and she has invited us along!

Seeing as I adore baking, I decided to jump on the bandwagon for this week's challenge: Blankenhainer Kirschküchen!

The ingredients list in the recipe was not long or complicated -- I had most in my kitchen. Had to buy some chopped almonds, but that was about it. Although cherries are just coming into season and showing up in our markets (I also noticed wild cherries beginning to ripen on some trees alongside the waterway path!), I chose to use cherries from a jar. Easy.

(I included butter in the above picture, but as I looked again, the cake didn't call for it. That was an indicator of what was to come...)

I've got a pretty good wand-mixer at my disposable, so the whipping of the yolks and the egg whites was a breeze. (I thought the whites looks particularly lovely. I think something involving meringue is on my not-to-distant horizon.) In an addition to this recipe, I added a dash of (the infamous!) cream of tartar, which I happened to have on hand, to give the whites a little staying power.

The almonds that we purchased from Plus came chopped in fine little squares, so I put them through a grinder to get them extra-finely ground. They ended up being practically powdered -- like espresso grind, but stickier.

With my wood paddle, I folded the whites into the yolks, bit by bit. It took a little time, but they eventually mixed in without too much manhandling. Next came flour and spice. Then the cherries and ground almonds. They mixed very easily into the batter. The result was a very light and fluffy batter. It bubbled with air.

I greased my trusty springform with some butter (the ONLY butter involved in this cake) and floured it.

We have an old gas oven with very little temperature control, and a small electric oven/toaster with temperature dials. I used the toaster, heating from above and below, for more even and controlled cooking.

The cake looked pretty good when the timer went off. I took it out. Then, in another variation to this recipe, I brushed the top of the cake with a little egg and generously sprinkled on the coarse decorative sugar -- a trick I learned from bread-baking, to help toppings sticks. I then popped the cake back in the oven and gave it another 5 minutes.

Final result looked pretty good.

We broke into the cake during our afternoon coffee. It was delicious and not too sweet, but decidedly dry, even by German standards. Perhaps it was that extra 5 minutes in the oven. Or maybe the lack of butter in the recipe... Next time, I think I may toss a couple pats of butter or a dash of oil into the yolks.

Thankfully, there was a little jar of Schlagsahne on hand. Johann whipped it up in an instant, and we all got a generous dollop of cream with our cake. A perfect pairing.

Thanks be to Schiller for immortalizing this cake, like Proust and his madeleines. Thanks also be to Christina at AmiExpat, for passing the recipe along and lighting the fire of interest -- preheating the oven, so to speak.