Mini Austrian Gugelhupf

While on holiday in Vienna at Christmas, I was very enchanted by the lovely Gugelhupf cake we tasted a couple of times while we were over there. A really yummy, simple cake that also looked so pretty - I was smitten!

I was also very excited to read in my guidebook that the Gugelhupf was apparently the favourite cake of Sigmund Freud! He must have been a man of taste...

So, of course, I went out in search of the mould to make the circlular-shaped cake. I found one but was pretty sure that I'd seen something like it on sale in Ikea in Manchester... So I thought to get something a bit unusual that might be more difficult to get back home - a tray a bit like a cupcake one but for making mini Gugelhupfs!

I decided what better occasion to have a go at making the Gugelhupfs than a New Year's Eve visit to the Doyles' house. We cracked them out after dinner not long before midnight and enjoyed them with a nice Irish coffee. The cakes turned out really nice - quite dense and sweet like our favourite one in Austria. I was really pleased that everyone liked them and said they were good.

So, as they were such a big hit, I made another batch for Hayley's birthday yesterday and took them into work for her. She was really pleased and it made me smile when I gave them to her and she instantly opened the box, took one out and bit into it before saying, "They are fit."

Recipe:
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
120ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
255g butter
130g icing sugar
6 eggs
150g granulated sugar
56g dark chocolate

Begin by preheating the oven to 200 degrees C. Spray the Gugelhupf moulds with a little cooking spray. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Mix the milk and vanilla together in a jug. Set aside. Beat the butter until smooth in another large bowl. I cheated a little by giving it 20 seconds in the microwave before doing so! Add the icing sugar to the butter and beat that in too.

Separate the eggs. Place the whites in another large mixing bowl and add the yolks to the previous bowl along with the butter and icing sugar. Beat until smooth and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, before adding the granulated sugar and whisking them in too until glossy like meringue mix.

Now take the mixing bowl containing the beaten butter, icing sugar and egg yolks. Add to this a quarter of the egg whites to this and mix. Then add half of the milk and mix, followed by half of the flour and mix. Repeat until all the milk and flour has been added to the bowl.

Finally, carefully fold in the remaining egg whites. Melt the chocolate and carefully fold it into the batter. No need to mix it completeley, just sort of swirl it around a bit.

Add around three teaspoons of the Gugelhupf batter to the each of the mini moulds in the tin.

Place in the oven for around 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Then, turn the mini Gugelhupfs out and place them the other way up on a baking tray and allow to brown on top for a little longer.

Place on a serving tray, sprinkle with a little icing sugar and serve! Freud-tastic!