Sheet cakes are a great thing, usually quite easy to prepare and great for a larger crowd of people. If you like sheet cakes, but for various reasons, you don’t want to prepare so much cake at once, you can easily make a smaller version of a full sheet cake. I’ve gotten into the habit of adapting my recipes so they can easily be used for a smaller baking sheet – in the case of this German Butter Cake, you can simply scale it up to get a full sheet ;)
Baking smaller cakes is not only in times of a pandemic with contact restrictions a good idea. You probably not always need a cake for a big crowd. We are a 2 1/2 person household (the half “person” is our French Bulldog) and regular-sized cakes are normally too much for us. Even if it’s a sugar-free cake, which I could eat without problems, it can take days to eat even a small cake. That’s why I prefer smaller cakes and in the case of traybakes, I normally do half the recipe only. I don’t want to throw anything away at the end…
Well… it’s “Bake Together – The Baking Surprise” time. And guess what our topic is today? Traybakes! Who would have guessed ;P
Andrea from Zimtkeks & Apfeltarte and I are doing this for quite some time already – over 5 years to be precise. Once a month we decide on a topic and bake something without knowing what the other one is going to do… well and then we surprise each other with the results, hence the name of the whole thing ;P It’s always interesting what can be done with the same topic – sometimes the results are very similar but most of the time we do quite different stuff. So I am pretty curious what Andrea is going to do today ;)
Butter Cake aka. Butterkuchen is pretty popular here in Germany. It’s a very simple cake that probably every single bakery here in Germany sells. Because it is such an easy and simple cake to bake (in large quantities) ;) However, I am not the biggest fan of a butter cake coming from a regular bakery. Most of the time they are a bit too compact and quite dry, to be honest. That’s because most bakeries make them early in the morning or during the night and sell them later when they were sitting and drying already for hours in the cake display of the bakery. There are not many bakeries anymore that do the baking and selling in the same place where they can sell you the cake fresh from the oven…
A nice butter cake should be light and fluffy – even though it’s not really a “light” cake with all the calories from the sugar and butter added ;) A good butter cake should never be dry. The texture should be similar to a light brioche bake. Fresh from the oven always a delicious treat!
This recipe is adapted to fit a smaller baking sheet* but can easily be “scaled up”. For a typically sized baking sheet you just have to double all the ingredients – except for the eggs. There you don’t need to double the amount. Just use one full egg and the egg yolk – that should still be enough for a larger baking sheet.
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
For the dough:
2.1 oz. (60g) butter, melted
1/2 cup (120ml) lukewarm milk
2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
1 pkg. (0.25 oz.) active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 medium egg
For the topping:
1 medium egg yolk
1.4-1.8 oz. (40-50g) sugar
1.8 oz. (50g) butter, cubed
confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
Für den Teig:
60g Butter, geschmolzen
120ml lauwarme Milch
260g Mehl (Type 550)
1 Pkg. Trockenhefe
1 TL Zucker
1 Prise Salz
1 TL Vanille Extrakt
1 Ei (M)
Für den Belag:
1 Eigelb (M)
40-50g Zucker
50g Butter, in kleinen Würfeln
Puderzucker zum Bestäuben (optional)
DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
2. Mix flour, dry yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk-butter mixture, vanilla extract, and egg, and knead everything for 5-6 minutes until you get a smooth dough. Shape into a ball, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
3. Line a small rimmed baking sheet (about 9×12 inches/23x30cm) with baking parchment. Place the risen yeast dough on the baking parchment and then either roll it out on the tray or simply pull/press it into shape until your reach the edges of the baking sheet. Prick the dough with a fork several times, cover, and let rise again for about 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Brush the risen dough with the egg yolk and sprinkle the sugar on top. Cut the butter into small pieces and press them evenly distributed into the dough. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and bake the cake for 15-20 minutes – the top of the cake should a nice golden color, but not be overly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool down. If there are still small puddles of melted butter visible – don’t worry – they will disappear after a few minutes. If you like, you can dust the cake with some confectioners’ sugar before serving (optional)…. but there is actually enough sugar on top already ;P
2. Mehl, Trockenhefe, Zucker und Salz in einer großen Schüssel verrühren. Die Milch-Butter-Mischung, Vanille Extrakt und das Ei dazugeben und alles für 5-6 Minuten zu einem glatten Teig verkneten. Den Teig zur Kugel formen, die Schüssel abdecken und den Teig an einem warmen Ort für etwa 45 Minuten gehen lassen.
3. Ein kleines Backblech (23x30cm/9×12 inches) mit Backpapier auslegen. Den gegangenen Hefeteig daraufsetzen und dann entweder auf dem Blech ausrollen oder einfach in Form ziehen und drücken. Mit einer Gabel mehrmals einstechen, abdecken und noch einmal für etwa 20 Minuten gehen lassen.
4. Den Ofen auf 200°C (390°F) Ober-/Unterhitze vorheizen. Den gegangenen Teig mit dem Eigelb bestreichen und den Zucker darüberstreuen. Die Butter in kleine Stücke teilen und dann gleichmäßig verteilt in den Teig drücken. Das Blech in die Mitte des Ofens schieben und dann 15-20 Minuten backen. Die Oberfläche des Kuchens sollte eine goldene Farbe bekommen haben, aber nicht übermäßig gebräunt sein. Aus dem Ofen holen und abkühlen lassen. Sollten noch kleine Butterpfützen zu sehen sein, werden die nach ein paar Minuten verschwinden – also nicht wundern. Wer mag, kann den Kuchen vor dem Servieren noch mit etwas Puderzucker bestäuben (optional)… im Grunde ist aber eh schon genug Zucker drauf ;)
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Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
Easy German Butter Cake Traybake
- Prep Time: 00:15
- Cook Time: 00:20
- Total Time: 01:45
- Yield: 9 1x
- Category: Cakes
- Cuisine: Germany
Description
A German classic everybody loves: German Butter Cake Traybake. So good!
Ingredients
For the dough:
2.1 oz. (60g) butter, melted
1/2 cup (120ml) lukewarm milk
2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
1 pkg. (0.25 oz.) active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 medium egg
For the topping:
1 medium egg yolk
1.4-1.8 oz. (40-50g) sugar
1.8 oz. (50g) butter, cubed
confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
Instructions
1. Melt the butter and mix it with the lukewarm milk. The mix should have a maximum temperature of 113°F (45°C).
2. Mix flour, dry yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk-butter mixture, vanilla extract, and egg, and knead everything for 5-6 minutes until you get a smooth dough. Shape into a ball, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
3. Line a small rimmed baking sheet (about 9×12 inches/23x30cm) with baking parchment. Place the risen yeast dough on the baking parchment and then either roll it out on the tray or simply pull/press it into shape until your reach the edges of the baking sheet. Prick the dough with a fork several times, cover, and let rise again for about 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Brush the risen dough with the egg yolk and sprinkle the sugar on top. Cut the butter into small pieces and press them evenly distributed into the dough. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and bake the cake for 15-20 minutes – the top of the cake should a nice golden color, but not be overly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool down. If there are still small puddles of melted butter visible – don’t worry – they will disappear after a few minutes. If you like, you can dust the cake with some confectioners’ sugar before serving (optional)…. but there is actually enough sugar on top already ;P
Notes
Enjoy baking!
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