Butter-Almond Cake (Butterkuchen)

Butterkuchen has a yeasted bread-like base (enriched with butter and eggs), with the topping of more butter, almond flakes and sprinklings of sugar. The cake bakes up to a puffy, chewy bread-like cake with crispy toasty sweet almonds topping. Very addictive!

Another keeper recipe from Classic German Baking!

Butter Almond Cake (Butterkuchen)
(Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss)
makes 1 (9x13-inch) cake
For the cake :
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups, scooped and leveled/250gm all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading (I use bread flour)
grated peel of 1/2 organic lemon
2 pinches of salt
9 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (130gm unsalted high-fat European-style butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature

For the topping :
10 tablespoons/140gm unsalted high-fat butter European-style butter, cold (I use 100gm)
1 cup/85gm blanched sliced almonds
1/2 cup/100gm granulated sugar (I use 1/3 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Line a 9 by 13-inch/23 by 33cm metal baking pan with parchment paper, letting the sides hang over the edge to function as a sling after baking.
2. To make the cake : Place the yeast, sugar, flour, grated lemon peel, salt, butter and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment. Beat together for several minutes, until the dough is shiny and starts flapping around the bowl and heaters in larger chunks. The dough will be quite soft but should no longer be sticky to the touch. Alternatively, you can make the dough by hand. Mix the yeast, sugar, flour, grated lemon peel, and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack in the eggs. Stir the eggs into the flour with one hand and start adding the soft butter, having cut it into chunks. Knead the dough together in the bowl until it comes together, then scrape it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky. Resist adding too much flour, you want the dough to remain soft and slightly floppy.
3. Scrape the dough together and form into a smooth ball using your hands. Place the dough in the middle of the prepared pan and cover the pan with a clean dishcloth. Set aside in a warm, draft-free spot for 1 to 2 hours. the dough will not necessarily double in size, but it should be quite puffy and soft to the touch.
4. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Using the tips of your fingers, push the dough down gently into the pan so that it lines the entire pan evenly, or remove the paper form the pan, lay it on your work surface, and roll out the dough until it fits the indentations of the pan on the paper, and then transfer the paper and dough back into the pan. The dough will be very thin. Using your fingers, dimple the surface of the dough all over.
5. To make the topping : Cube the cold butter into 1/4-inch pieces and drop the cubes evenly all over the cake. It will seem like a very large amount of butter. Scatter the almonds evenly all over the cake. Mix the sugar, salt , and cinnamon together and scatter evenly all over the cake.
6. Place in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Using the parchment paper as a sling, lift the cake out of the pan and place it on a cutting board. Cut into squares and serve warm. This cake is best eaten the day it is made.

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #36