Butterkuchen Recipe

The other day we were planning a pot-luck to celebrate the birthday of a German co-worker, so I thought I’d make something German rather than add more muffins or brownies to the mix…of muffins and brownies.

I’ve never had traditional German baked goods before and had no idea where to start (well, other than google of course). I was looking for something easy to make, portable, didn’t require assembly or finishing touches at work and is large enough to share — enters the Butterkuchen.

A Butterkuchen is a German butter cake that has a soft bread-like center with a slightly crisp sweet and buttery top. It is often served alongside coffee.

Looking for recipes of something I’ve never even tasted or seen was hard. I wanted it to be authentic and special. I mean, let’s be honest, I wouldn’t want to be giving French toast to a someone from France and say I made it just for them. So after hours of researching, I finally found something that looked really promising. I’ll admit this one is somewhat labour intensive with the crazy amount of little bits of butter but the outcome was definitely good. My co-worker’s mom even came in and tasted one and hey, if a German mommy liked it, that’s good enough for me!

Adapted from Cakeclassics

Prep Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes | Cook Time: 20 Minutes | Yields: 36 Servings
Vegetarian|Seafood-Free

For Dough:

400g (3 ¼ cup) All Purpose Flour

50g Sugar

3 tsp Instant Yeast

130ml Milk, warm

2 large Eggs

70g Unsalted Butter, melted

1 tsp Salt

For Topping:

150g Unsalted Butter

100g Sugar

1/4 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

100g Slivered Almonds

For Dough:

1. Sift flour and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Stir in yeast.
2. Turn the mixer on its lowest speed setting, add warm milk, eggs, melted butter and salt one at a time and mix on medium speed until dough forms and pulls away from the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or cling film and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
3. Grease a baking sheet.
4. Place dough on a floured surface and knead a few times. Using a rolling pin, Spread the dough out onto the prepared baking dish. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling film and allow to rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 430F.

For Topping:

6. With your finger, make little dimples all over the dough (think about 150 dimples) and cut little pieces of butter to place in each dimple. Sprinkle cake with sugar and cinnamon and finally, scatter slivered almonds evenly over top.
7. Bake for 5 minutes.
8. Reduce heat to 390F and bake for another 12 minutes, or until the top and edges starts to brown lightly. Be careful not to over-bake so the cake stays moist.
9. Let the cake cool on the baking sheet for 30 minutes before cutting into 36 bars.

Per each of 36 Servings