Gugelhupf is a traditional Austrian cake baked in a bundt cake pan. It can be a similar to a pound cake and is most often a chocolate and vanilla marble cake. A gugelhupf can also be a yeasted cake that is like a sweet bread. In my experience, gugelhupf tend to be dry and somewhat lacking in flavor, so once I got my hands on a recipe for a moist topfen (quark or curd cheese) gugelhupf, there was no looking back. I had to make it, because topfen is my absolute favorite baking ingredient in Austria. Topfen gugelhupf is the only kind of gugelhupf I have ever baked.
I got the recipe for topfen gugelhupf from a co-worker ages ago. What I loved about the recipe, besides the topfen itself, was that the gugelhupf pan was lined with sliced almonds so the cake slid right out of the pan after baking. I think it’s the most brilliant idea ever. I also find the sliced almonds coating the outside of the cake give it a nice, elegant look.
A few years ago, I had the idea of putting fresh strawberries into the cake batter. Everyone was amazed by my gugelhupf. Topfen! Strawberries! No one had ever seen a gugelhupf like this one. It was so moist while also being light and fresh.
I was recently thinking about what kind of Easter recipes to put on the blog. Some kind of cake… something with strawberries… and topfen… and I suddenly remembered the Topfen Strawberry Cake I made a while back.
It is even better than I remembered it. While I was mixing the batter, the aroma of topfen with vanilla and lemon was almost like a cheesecake. With the fresh strawberries, the smell was intoxicating.
You could use any berries you like in place of the strawberries. The cake would be delicious with blueberries, raspberries or currants. You could use frozen berries if you like, just fold the still frozen berries into the batter. The original, plain topfen gugelhupf (without any berries) is also amazing. If you’re baking the cake without berries, reduce the baking time by 5-10 minutes.
If you love moist cakes full of aroma, you have to try this recipe!
Enjoy!
Austrian Topfen Strawberry Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing the pan
- Sliced almonds for lining the bundt cake pan
- 7 ounces (200 g) butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (125 g) granulated sugar
- Grated zest of half an organic lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 envelope vanilla sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 4 ½ ounces (125 g) crème fraîche
- 9 ounces (250 g) topfen, 20% quark, curd cheese or farmer‘s cheese
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 9 ounces (250 g) fresh strawberries diced
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C). Grease the bundt cake pan well with butter and sprinkle with sliced almonds, lining the inside of the pan. Chill the pan, preferably in the freezer.
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In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Beat in the crème fraîche and topfen. Combine the flour with the baking powder and salt and stir the flour mixture into the topfen mixture. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the strawberries. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan.
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Bake cake for 40-45 minutes, until a wooden toothpick comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Dust cake with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.
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Keep cake covered at room temperature for up to two days, in the refrigerator for up to four days.
More delicious topfen recipes:
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