Ingredients
Base
- 400 gplain flour
- 7 ginstant yeast
- 80 gsugar
- 100 gbutter, softened
- 2eggs
- 150 mlwarm milk
- 1 tspsalt
- zest of 1 lemon
Filling
- 800 gplums, apples or murta berries
- 50 gsugar
- 1 tspcinnamon
Custard layer
- 200 mldouble cream
- 2eggs
- 60 gsugar
- 1 tspvanilla
Streusel
- 100 gflour
- 80 gbutter, cold
- 80 gsugar
- 50 gground almonds, optional
Directions
- Make a soft enriched yeast dough with the flour, yeast, sugar, butter, eggs, warm milk, salt and zest, and knead it 10 minutes.
- Prove for an hour until doubled.
- Press the dough into a springform tin, pushing it up the sides to make a shallow rim.
- Push a rim up the sides. The custard is liquid when it goes in and a flat base lets it run underneath the dough.
- Arrange the fruit over the base, cut side up, packed closely, and scatter the sugar and cinnamon over.
- If the fruit is very juicy, dust the dough with a spoonful of semolina or ground almonds first.
- That thin absorbent layer under wet fruit is what stops the base going soggy, and it is a step German-Chilean bakers take as a matter of course.
- Beat the cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla together and pour it over the fruit.
- Rub the streusel ingredients together into coarse crumbs and scatter them over the top.
- Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 40 to 45 minutes, until the custard is set and the streusel is golden.
- Cover the top loosely with foil if the streusel colours before the custard has set.
- Cool it completely in the tin before releasing the ring, because the custard firms as it cools and a warm kuchen collapses.
- Serve at room temperature with coffee, at once, the Chilean late-afternoon meal.
- It came with German settlers to the Lake District and Valdivia from the 1850s, and it has been Chilean for long enough that nobody thinks of it as foreign.
Technique
- Murta, the Chilean guava, is the local fruit for it and gives a distinctly southern version.
- Once is the afternoon meal, and kuchen is its centrepiece across southern Chile.
- It keeps two or three days and is better on the second.
Substitutions
- Any firm fruit: apricots, rhubarb, blackberries.
- A shortcrust base rather than yeast dough, which is quicker.
Variations
- Kuchen de murta, with Chilean guava.
- Nut kuchen, made with ground walnuts instead of fruit.
- Made in a large tray for a crowd.
History
Baked around Valdivia and Puerto Varas by descendants of the nineteenth-century German settlers.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kuchen?
Kuchen is a bread & pastry from Chile: german-style fruit or nut cake, eaten with afternoon tea. Baked around Valdivia and Puerto Varas by descendants of the nineteenth-century German settlers.
How long does Kuchen take to make?
Kuchen takes 30 min plus 1 hr rising of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 cake. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Kuchen?
Yes, within limits. Any firm fruit: apricots, rhubarb, blackberries. A shortcrust base rather than yeast dough, which is quicker.
