No. 3240

Gugelhopfen

Cougloff

Butter well the inside of a baba mold having fluted sides; decorate the interior with halved almonds and keep it cool. Form a hollow in the center of four ounces of sifted flour; in it lay half an ounce of yeast, diluting it little by little with a small quantity of tepid milk; mix both flour and liquid slowly together to obtain a soft paste; gather it all up, lay it on the table and form into a ball, cutting a cross on top; place in a basin, cover with a cloth and leave in a mild temperature to have it rise to double its volume. In another vessel work ten ounces of butter with a spatula to a light cream. Lay three-quarters of a pound of flour in a circle on the table; in the center put one ounce of sugar and a little salt; dissolve these with a little water, then add four whole eggs and four separate yolks; mix the whole well and knead the paste vigorously to have it smooth with plenty of body, proceeding the same as for a baba paste; add slowly a gill and a half of good cream; continue to knead the paste until it is quite glossy, then add the butter slowly, knead once more for a few moments, put in the leaven and mingle all well together, then add four ounces of seeded Malaga raisins. As soon as all the ingredients are perfectly combined lay the paste in the mold to reach to two-thirds of its height and set it in a mild temperature until it raises to the top. Place the mold on a baking pan and bake in a slack oven for two hours; unmold on a wire grate.

← No. 3239 Genoese Cake Large Cakes for Entremets No. 3241 Hazel-Nut Cake →

For the Modern Kitchen

A rich yeasted brioche-type batter baked in a fluted tube mold. Ranhofer assumes you already know his baba paste, so the method reads compressed; the weights, however, are exact and the cake works.

Flour and butter in modern termsFour ounces of flour for the sponge plus three-quarters of a pound for the dough is 1 lb total (about 3 1/2 cups). Against that sit 10 oz butter, four whole eggs and four extra yolks, and cream — this is a brioche-rich dough, not a cake batter.
A gill and a halfA gill is half a cup, so this is 3/4 cup of cream. Add it in a slow stream while the dough is being worked, as written, or the paste will slacken and never come back together.
The yeastHalf an ounce means compressed fresh yeast, roughly 14 g. That is about 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of instant dry yeast, and the sponge (his "leaven") still wants the full rise to double before it goes into the dough.
Butter goes in last, and cold-ishButter goes in last -- The hinge of the recipe. Knead the paste until it is glossy and has "plenty of body" — a developed gluten window — before working in the butter, which Ranhofer has already creamed soft with a spatula. Butter added early coats the flour and you get a heavier, crumblier cake than the shredded brioche texture.
"A slack oven for two hours"Slack is usually taken to mean somewhere around 250-300F. Two hours at that heat reflects a masonry oven falling in temperature and a very large mold; in a modern oven this can be baked at 325-350F for 50 to 70 minutes, tenting the top if the almonds color early, and pulled at an internal temperature of about 190F.
The moldHis "baba mold having fluted sides" is presumably what we would call a kugelhopf mold — fluted, usually with a central tube, in earthenware or tinned copper. Something in the region of 9 to 10 cups should do. Butter it heavily, press the halved almonds into the flutes, and keep it cool as directed so they stay put when the dough goes in.
Malaga raisinsLarge seeded muscat raisins, sold on the stem in the period. Ordinary raisins substitute directly; four ounces is about 3/4 cup. A short soak in warm water or kirsch keeps them from drawing moisture out of the crumb.
Rising and yieldFill the mold two-thirds and let it come to the rim — at modern room temperature that is 1 to 2 hours, given how much butter is in the dough. One mold serves 10 to 12, and like all brioche it is best the day it is baked, or toasted the day after.

A Little History

Ranhofer files this under the spelling cougloff while the book's index calls it Gugelhopfen, which tells you exactly how the cake traveled: an Austrian and south-German yeasted cake, long domesticated in Alsace, arriving in New York by way of French professional kitchens. The name is generally traced to Gugel or Kugel, an old word for a hood or rounded cap, describing the shape the tall fluted mold gives it; the mold itself, in glazed earthenware, was often found in Alsatian and Viennese households. Its place here among the "Large Cakes for Entremets" is telling ot brebreakfast bread but a sweet course, and almonds are pressed into the flutes. The construction, a stiff sponge set first and then worked into an egg-and-butter paste, is the same one Ranhofer uses for baba, and he cross-references it rather than repeating himself.