Vanillicious.com – Easy Desserts

Vanilla Yeast Swirls

Or: Are you Brave Enough to Bake with Yeast?

I keep reading and hearing that baking yeast cakes are not for amateur bakers or beginners. Even people that bake on a regular basis avoid these type of cakes. I agree that some yeast dough can require some time and a little more skills (but only very little), when making the dough. But when it comes to the basic dough, it’s (litterally) a piece of cake. When preparing the dough, the most complicated part is kneading it. If you have a good mixer, you’re not even going to do that! So what so complicated about yeast dough?…

Another thing about yeast cakes is that you can’t be spontaneous about it, because it has to rise for several hours. Therefore, when you plan to bake a yeast cake, take into account that it will probably take at least 6 hours from the moment you start mixing the dough ingredients until you take the cake out of the oven. It usually depends on the type of yeast you’re using – fresh or dry, when dry usually takes longer to rise (from my experience), and how warm is the room where you let the dough rise.

I got the idea for this delicious yeast cake from Kugelhopf, a cake with Eastern European origins. I’ll tell you all about Kugelhopfs on a later post. Anyway, the swirl cake I made has a modern twist – its shape and filling. The shape came from a cake I noticed at the local supermarket, and as for the filling – I filled it with creme patissiere and coconut. Though you can replace the coconut with other dried fruits of your choice (e.g. apricots, raisins), chocolate chips or jams if that’s what you prefer. The good thing about these type of cakes is that you can make it as interesting as you like, and there are endless options as to how to fill your swirls. So it’s basically up to you and your preference – If you’re more of a chocolate person, you can also spread chocolate paste or Nutella instead of vanilla etc.

By the way, the yeast pastry part in this recipe is the same as published on my Sweet Yeast Pastry post. The difference is that I use only half this portion for the Vanilla Yeast Swirls.

Click here to read up this recipe!

In spite of what you might hear or read, preparing a basic yeast dough, is (litterally) a piece of cake. When preparing, the most complicated part is kneading it, and even amateur bakers or beginners can handle that. By the way, if you have a good mixer, you’re not even going to do that!

I agree that some yeast doughs can require some time and a little more skills (but only very little), but this is the simplest of all, and I bet everybody can master it easily!

Some yeast dough tips before you get to work:

• You can’t be spontaneous about yeast cakes and pastries, because it has to rise for several hours. Therefore, when you plan to bake a yeast cake, take into account that it will probably take at least 6 hours from the moment you start mixing the dough ingredients until you take the cake out of the oven.
• From my experience, the rising time usually depends on the type of yeast you’re using – fresh or dry, when dry usually takes longer. Another factor is the room temp where the dough rises.
• A yeast dough can left to rise overnight in the fridge.
• 25g fresh yeast = 1 tbsp quick dry yeast = 1 sachet of 7 grams.
• The milk can be replaced with a similar amount of sour cream or natural yogurt.
• When working with a sweet yeast pastry, I sometimes dust my work surface with icing sugar rather than flour. There’ll be no complaints if the dough is just a little sweeter than it supposed to be (which is not too sweet anyway!).
• A baked yeast pastry can be freeze. When necessary, just warm it up again in your oven.
• The quantities specified in the following recipe are sufficient for: 1 Kugelhopf OR 2 loaf tin sized yeast cakes (25-30cm long)

So what so complicated about yeast dough?…

Click here to read up this recipe!