Final Project: The Rehrucken

So this post is about 9 weeks late... So here is a lesson about the Rehrucken.

Did you say "What the hell is that?" I did too the first time Chef said Rehrucken.

 

The Rehrucken is an Austrian cake made with no flour. Finely ground almonds and bread crumbs are used in place of the flour. Butter, sugar, chocolate, and cinnamon are added. The eggs are whipped separately and folded in. Sound delicious yet? Then, chocolate glaze is poured over the top and decorated with sliced almonds.

 

Rehrucken translate to "saddle of venison." The cake is poured in to a special mold made specifically for this cake. The mold has ridges along the entire edge and an indentation in the center. The pan was created to resemble the spine and rib bones of a deer.The almonds are placed on top to signify the pieces of fat used to salt and preserve the meat.

Still sound appetizing?

 

 

The Rehrucken I made in class



 

I had some difficulty making this cake the first time. As you can see, there is not a chemical leavening agent. The whipped eggs act as the leavener. I completely overfolded the egg whites (which means they do not leaven), and my cake completely fell in the oven. I remade the cake a second time and it rose perfectly.

Lesson learned.

The Rehrucken turned out to be a tasty cake. The flavor profile reminded me of Christmas.

Unfortunately, it was about 95 degrees in the bake shop this night. My lovely glaze melted by the time I placed the cake on a serving tray.

Because I'm not able to take pictures of every step, I included a link to Joe Pastry, which is a wonderful blog. Click on Joe Pastry to see the step by step process of creating the Rehrucken.

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I realized yesterday I never update on what I do on my free time outside of class.

Today, I'm visiting Tim.

A new roommate is moving in so I cleaned the apartment, doing Tim's laundry and just hanging out with Spud. He hasn't left my side all day. He did spend a few minutes inspecting the new roommates belongings.

Thanks for reading. Hope everyone is doing well.