Saturday, January 21, 2006

Caramel Butter Cake


Caramel Butter Cake

I have never had a real great success with my small kugelhof pan yet. Maybe it’s a stupid idea to bake pound-cake type cakes, not real kugelhof, in this kind of pan? I have seen photos of a fruit cake or cocoa cake baked in kugelhof pan, so I thought it should be OK... But no matter how long I baked, the side of my cakes didn't turn brown like the photos I saw on the net :(

Anyway, today I tried something I wanted to try since I read this entry on "she who eats." And I couldn’t resist the temptation to turn it into a caramel marble cake after I saw this site. Since my kugelhof pan is a small one, I reduced the amount of ingredients of this recipe (in Japanese) to 2/3, and added a couple teaspoonful milk to the batter because it looked a bit too thick without the caramel blended in. I thought everything went pretty OK. The batter didn’t flood like the time I made a cherry pound cake for Christmas, and the caramel was browned but not burned, leaving only a slight bitterness. Just one thing… again, the side didn’t turn brown.

What am I doing wrong? I buttered and floured the pan, but would it make a difference if I use oil instead of butter next time? (I can't get a non-stick spray here.) How can I bake a caramel butter cake like this? Should I set the oven temperature higher?? Mmm…. Need more practice, I guess.

6 comments:

chika said...

Hi obachan,

Your caramel marble cake looks utterly good! I haven't baked caramel pound cake for more than a year now, maybe it should be about time...

re: sides of your kugelhof cakes; do yo get browned sides with your other cakes baked in a regular loaf pan? Ever since I got back in Japan I've been using some oven-cum-microwave-ovens, and I NEVER get the sides of my cakes nicely browned; in fact, things seem to burn upside while the bottom is still uncooked. The taller my cakes are, to the larger degrees this seem to happen, which have never occured with a large electric oven I used in Hawaii or a gas convection oven I used to use at my parents'. Those types of (small and cheap) ovens just don't heat things from side/bottom, maybe.... But I don't know, you seem to have been okay with regular loaf cakes, so this may not be your case. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi Obachan!
Your caramel cake looks great!
And thanks for the link to the recipe, this is something I've been meaning to try since December when I first had a slice of something similar in a restaurant in Tokyo.
About your cake-form - I don't have one but I remember a discussion on a cooking forum I read. It seems these cake forms are a bit tricky, some people find it hard to get the inside of the cake baked properly.
And yes, our small electric ovens are probably not ideal for proper baking. I am always adapting recipes and making cakes or bread of lower height.

K and S said...

Hi Obachan,
Your cake looks great...I can almost smell the caramel! :)

Anonymous said...

Kon'nichi wa Obachan:
Many years ago when I lived in Japan a friend gave me a delicious gugelkoff recipe which I still use. The sides get very brown, this is a function of the amount and type of sugar in the batter I believe. You may want to try heating your pan prior to placing the batter in it so it is very hot. This is done in recipes that want to achieve a crust on the outside, such as, popovers.

obachan said...

chika
Thank you so much for your comment! Now that you said that, yeah, that’s right. The sides turned brown alright only when I baked cakes in my small loaf pan. It never worked with taller cakes. So I guess that’s something that can’t be helped with my oven. (It was 19,800 yen and the smallest size I could find.)

steff
You have this kind of oven, too? Yeah, I guess I just have to give up on taller cakes. Oh, I miss the big oven I had in the U.S.!

Kat & Satoshi
Thanks. The caramel smelled really good. : )

Anonymous commenter
Oh, Thanks! Next time I’ll definitely try heating the pan beforehand. Keep fingers crossed! ( But honestly, I wish I could return this kougelhof pan and get a flatter bundt pan instead…)

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