Klingeris

[chefbrian]

Did a search and couldn't find a recipe on this forum

Same thing with Google.

Does anyone have an authentic recipe for a Latvian cake called "Klingeris"?

[boar_d_laze]

Google told me what klingeris was, than I found this searching the terms, latvian + saffron + bread + raisins:
Foodgeeks.com: Recipe for Latvian Saffron Bread (Klingery)

Obviously, I've never tried the recipe but it looks interesting as these things go. Still, one can't help think about the origins of baba au rhum.

Good luck,
BDL

[chefbrian]

Umm, not sure we're talking the same thing here, boar_d_laze.

If you Google that term in images, you'll pull up a nice picture - figure 8 shaped as the loaf is suppose to be. Can't post a picture here because I don't have enough posts! And the page is in some foreign language.

Actually, the following is a recipe for this cake given to me by someone from Russia, but I was wondering how authentic it was. That's why I was looking for a traditional recipe to compare:

Ingredients for the glaze

All in European measurements, NB!
1.5 teaspoonsful of powdered instant espresso
3 tablespoons of really strong brewed coffee
3/4 of a cup of confectionery sugar

Ingredients for the cake

3/4 of a cup of softened unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
2 extra-large eggs
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoonful of baking powder
1/2 a teaspoonful of baking soda
1/4 of a teaspoonful of salt
2 teaspoonsful of vanilla
1 cup of Russian sour cream
2 tablespoons of instant espresso coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon of very hot water

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, and add the sugar gradually, beating, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy (you can do this bit with a blender); then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Then beat in the vanilla, and add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour, and blending it all together after adding each stage.

Transfer about a third of this mixture to another separate bowl and add in the espresso mixture, stirring, and again mixing it together well.

Of the other two-thirds, spoon about half of it into a well-buttered 8-inch baking pan, spreading it evenly. Then spoon over this the third to which you added the espresso mixture, again spreading it evenly, and then put the last third of the remaining mixture on the top, again spreading it all evenly.

The part of the mixture with the espresso in it forms the middle layer of three, in other words.

Bake it in the middle of a preheated oven at 350 degree (that's Farenheit) for an hour and let it cool, still in the baking pan, for about half an hour (it will still be warm). Then tip it out upside down on a backing rack and let it cool completely.

Now stir together the brewed coffee and the remaining espresso powder until it's all dissoved. Sift the fine confectionery sugar and add that too, again so it's all well dissolved and homogeneous (you can add more coffee liquid, if needed, to make it into a pourable state. This is the glaze, which you just pour over the cooled cake and let it stand for 10 minutes or maybe a bit longer, until the glaze has set.

It's broadly similar to a Danish recipe which you will know. And they do only slightly different ones in Estonia and Latvia (under a slightly different name) and in Latvia they traditionally make it in a sort of bagel shape with a hole in the middle, or even like a figure 8, with two holes.

[boar_d_laze]

Chef,

The research I did showed klingeris (klingery?) was pretzel shaped coffee-cake type of cakes, the crumb colored with saffron, the surface covered with raisins and almonds and traditionally served on birthdays. The recipe I found seemed to fit all the descriptions. For one thing, it's a yeast type cake and can be formed into a pretzel. There was one very similar recipes under the same name:
Latvian recipe: Golden Coffee Cake (" Kliņģeris ") And a few under the name of the non-birthday, non-figure-eight, everyday variant: Latvian Kringel - CookbookWiki Now, when it came to kringles and kringels (either way) the Baltic teems with them, or at least Denmark and Estonia do. And they are the same, or at least very similar. Then there's the Polish babkis.

If the recipes I found are not the ones for which you hoped, and you seek a batter cake (have a good time trying to shape it), I guess you'll have to keep looking. I'm done.

Much joy,
BDL

[chefbrian]

Okay, boar_d_laze, thanks for the link.

That Golden Coffee Cake (Kliņģeris) recipe is exactly what I'm looking for.

The saffron and yeast threw me in that first recipe you gave a link to because it was so different from the Russian version I had.

Saffron seems rather odd, but I guess that's what they use.

Seems a lot like Danish Kringle - using yeast.

Much appreciated.

Thanks.