Black Forest Buns | We Knead to Bake #25

I remember going 'oooohh' on black forest cake. Layers of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries(whole/compote) in between garnished with more cherries,cream and chocolate shavings.More than anything I was intrigued by the name.I used to believe that it was the chocolate shavings that gave rise to the

name black forest and used to wonder why not brown forest.

Later whenever I took a bite I imagined myself near the Black Forest Mountain range in  Southern Germany. I even used to be jealous of the locals there thinking they would be having the cake all the time.

Only recently I got to know it was named after the speciality liquor of the Black Forest region. The authentic Black Forest which is rated as a Top Gourmet Cake gets its flavour from this liquor distilled from tart cherries.Though ofcourse when the cake got popular worldwide, they were manufactured without alcohol  but cherry preserves.

This time for We Knead to Bake, Aparna gave us the yummilicious Black Forest Buns. A fuss free yeasted bread made fancy due to the use of cherry/berry compote and chocolate sponge cake. Easy to make and Gourmet to taste.

Ingredients:

Water: 1/2 cup
Milk: 1/2 cup
Butter: 50gm or 4 tbsp
Sugar: 4 tbsp
Egg: 1 OR Ener G egg = 1.5 pkd tsp of energ + 2 tbsp water

Salt: 3/4 tsp
Instant Yeast:1.5 tsp
All Purpose Flour : 3 cups to 3.5cups

Filling:
Cherry / Strawberry compote/preserve/jam: 3/4 cup
Crumbled chocolate spongecake : around 2 cups

Drizzling: 
chopped and melted semi sweet chocolate or choc syrup or your choice.

Preparation:

Heat water and milk on medium in a saucepan till quite hot but not boiling. Pour this liquid into a large bowl and add butter. Stir until the butter is melted. Then add in the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Once it starts 

cooling down and  becomes luke warm add the yeast and egg. mix well. Then add about 1 cup of flour and mix well. You can do this process by hand or in the processor. 

Add salt and more flour as much is necessary and knead to get a smooth elastic nonsticky dough.In between if the mix becomes difficult to mix in tun it onto the work surface and continue to knead another 10 minutes or so till it becomes elastic and nonsticky. Mine was slightly sticky but workable.

Place the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl turning to coat with oil. Cover loosely and allow the dough to double in volume for about 1-1.5 hours.Now place the dough on a flat surface and roll it out into a 18" x 12" rectangle.

Spread the cherry compote/strawberry jam over leaving a 1/2 " all around. Sprinkle the cake crumbs atop this. Roll the dough away from you,as tightly as possible starting with the 9" edge like jellyroll sealing the edges using water if needed.

Cut into 1.5" pieces and you will get 12 pieces. Place each piece in separate moulds or a baking sheet with just enough space between them to expand.Too much distance will make these spread rather than become tall which is what we want. Cover loosely and allow to rise for another 1 hour or till double.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F/180C for 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool completely. Garnish with more cherries. Drizzle with melted chocolate and serve.

Perfect Gourmet Bread Buns. We are definitely taken to black forest land thanks to compote and cake. Bake these to taste for yourself. I am going for another batch as the first batch got over right from the oven.

Hop over to Aparna's to see who all baked this treat.