Mohr im Hemd.

I changed my job this week. Which is crazy considering that I work now for 2 weeks everyday (even the weekend!) and went one day into one company and the other into the next one. Changes are inevitable. Changes are good. However I’m not that good at saying “goodbye”. Not that I cry or anything but I have a hard time of letting go. Maybe this weekend (which will be for leisurely activities and no work only) I might be able to wrap my head around the fact that I have a different position, new work colleagues and a a lot new challenges now. To make it even harder for my “old” work colleagues (former work colleagues? There! It starts. I’m already confused again.) I baked them a cake. But not any cake! My signature dish. I haven’t made it for years now but there was a time when I baked this cake a lot (also a lot on request from my family and friends). It’s actually quite easy and fast (or I just got really fast after the 100th time) and soooo delicious. The German name “Mohr im Hemd” translates loosely into “Nigga in a shirt”. I am not kidding. I swear. There was even a national discussion in Austria if that name should be changed. It didn’t. Austria is not as good with changes as I am. However it’s normally a dessert and gets baked in single serving portions (with a soft core) but the Gugelhupf version is just as delicious! (If you don’t have a Gugelhupf form, you can make it in a long baking pan like for banana bread.)

All you need is:
– 140 g dark chocolate
– 140 g butter (room temperature)
– 140 g castor sugar
– 1 pinch of salt
– 1 Tbsp Vanilla sugar
– 8 eggs
– 180 g ground almonds
– 60 g bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 160° C (320° Fahrenheit). Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water (careful! don’t get it too hot!). Put the bowl to the side and let it cool a little. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the melted chocolate. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with the castor sugar, salt and Vanilla sugar until stiff. Mix the chocolate and butter together and add slowly the egg yolks. Carefully combine the egg whites, the chocolate mixture with the ground almonds and bread crumbs. Grease your baking tin with butter and add 4 Tbsp bread crumbs. Turn and swing the form until every inch is covered in butter and bread crumbs. Fill the cake mixture into the baking tin and bake in the oven for 60 mins.

It is currently so warm and bright outside that I could take this pictures in the garden. Not my garden. I don’t have one. But still. A garden.

I got the Gugelhupf baking tin from my parents who bought it in France. Isn’t it pretty with the hearts on the white background?

If you have problems with the cake coming out of the tin (or limited time because you started baking at 11 pm and want to go to bed, ahem) you can place a wet towel on the turned over tin. It will cool the form and the cake will slide out.

Any changes for you already this year?

Now. Carry on!