Thursday, August 4, 2011

Kouign Amann



A couple of weeks ago, my work buddy Lee told me excitedly about a cake she'd seen made on TV the night before.  "It had lots of butter and sugar," she said, "and he rolled it out like a dough.  It has a funny name - I will find it and email it to you."   

Lee emailed me David Lebovitz's recipe for Kouign Amann.  Eh?  Until then, I had never heard of such a thing.  But sure enough, Kouign Amann (pronounced "quinn ah-marn" and translated, literally means "butter cake") is a Briton speciality with a mysterious past - was it created from a failed bread dough?

 


However it was created, it is a buttery, sweet, yeasted, laminated dough concoction with a caramelised, toffee like sugar crust. If you can make puff pastry, you can make this.  It tastes like a croissant, yet has the texture of a brioche.  And  it's delicious!!

My additional tip when making Kouign Amann is to line your pie dish with parchment paper; and flatten rather than cubing your butter for ease of incorporation.  Don't just butter your pan, or like mine, it may weld itself to the pan, and require some serious effort to remove (which is why mine looks a little battered).

Smell the butter and sugar and enjoy!!!

10 comments:

Gloria Baker said...

Cake Law this sounds delicious! gloria

Julia @Mélanger said...

I made this for the first time last year. Oh my gosh, straight from the oven it's so sinful! I think my husband and I ate nearly half of it before it even cooled. Yours looks so perfect! Will you make it again?

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

OMG this is on my list too! This was one of my favourite items are Laduree. it's so delicious! :D

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Gloria.

Hi Julia, I would make this again. It surprised me - when I read what it was, and when I looked at mine, I didn't get it, and then I tasted it - and that was the Eureka moment!

Hi Lorraine, I was tempted to make the Laduree version (I just bought the Laduree Sucre recipe book - so beautiful) - but it had buckwheat flour and cake flour, and I didn't have either in the house. Theirs looks very pretty with neat folded corners looking like a Jackie O hat.

Johanna GGG said...

ha - I love the way you say if you can make puff pastry - yeast is my friend but pastry is still my nemesis - but it does look worth the effort esp if there are lots to share it

Amanda said...

God, I soooo want this cake. But right now!
Thanks for this link, I'd missed this one and not heard of the cake before.

Anonymous said...

The thought of that butter is making me drool. Great post!

Lauren Hairston said...

I've been wanting to make one of these for years, but I never knew how gorgeous the insides looked!

P.S. I am super-duper envious of the fact that you own Ladurée Sucré. It keeps tempting me on Amazon.

Anonymous said...

Yum! I had seen the name of this cake before, but didn't know what it was or how to pronounce it. It sounds and looks delicious! Do you get a lot of requests from your coworkers? Mine eat whatever I bring in, but don't usually ask for anything special. I wouldn't mind them giving me some ideas.

Cakelaw said...

Hi Jill, I sometimes get requests - not all that often, but if someone really wants to try something they will ask. And I am usually happy to give it a go!