Isabel Pasch is an owner of Bread & Butter Bakery and Cafe which, along with wholesale operations, has a retail bakery in Grey Lynn. Here she shares a comforting Sunday dessert that hails from her native Germany.
What does Sunday look like in your kitchen?
Because I work long hours, I don’t often get the chance to cook and because there are frequent leftovers from the bakery keeping the whānau well-fed with treats, there really isn’t much baking going on in our house during the week.
But weekends are when I (sometimes) have enough time to bake. Since I always wake up much earlier than everyone else (occupational side effect), I enjoy the quiet morning by first doing a meditation and then reading, often browsing cookbooks or recipes online over a cup of tea in order to get inspired for what I might bake later. Then it’s off to the farmers’ market. We generally do all our vege, fruit and fresh produce shopping at either the Parnell Farmers’ Market on Saturdays or the Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market on Sundays.
In the afternoon I will bake and start preparing dinner. The sweet baking will then be enjoyed as dessert - in front of the TV if we don’t have guests.
Why have you chosen this dish?
The original recipe uses cherries – hence the name Kirschmichel. But I am no stickler for following recipes and will often modify them according to whatever I have available or what needs using up. I’ve used plums here. My favourite New Zealand fruit is feijoas and they are just coming into season now, so they’ll go into the rotation very soon.
I love this recipe because it is so forgiving. It can accommodate pretty much any type of seasonal fruit and it uses old bread instead of flour, thus being a good way to reduce food waste (since bread is the most wasted food in the pantry). Plus, it is really easy to make, works great as a warm dessert served with whatever you fancy (vanilla icecream, Greek yoghurt, custard or whipped cream) and if you want to, you can split it in half and bake half as muffins and the other half as your dessert.
Kirschmichel – Baked fruit pudding
Serves: 8-10 portions or Texas muffin cups
Butter, for greasing the dish
Breadcrumbs
750g seasonal fruit (cherries are my favourite and it’s the original recipe, but stonefruit, apples, pears, feijoas or berries work as well)
6 old (dry) white bread rolls (appr. 200-250g) or the equivalent weight of ciabatta, plain focaccia, burger buns, hotdog buns or other soft white-ish bread
375ml of milk (use alternative milks if you want)
125g butter
125g golden sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of cardamom (leave it out, if you don’t like it)
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs, separated
100g almonds, ground
Icing sugar, for dusting
Whipped cream, custard, icecream or yoghurt, to serve
1. Heat the oven to 160C. Grease a large oven-proof dish with butter and dust with breadcrumbs.
2. Depending on what type of fruit you use prepare as follows: cherries - just take the stones out (great if you have a cherry pipper, otherwise cut into halves); stonefruit - remove the stone and cut into quarters or wedges depending on the size of the fruit; apples and pears - peel and take the cores out and cut into thin wedges; feijoas - just scoop them out; berries - just add as is.
3. Cut the bread into cubes, heat the milk to slightly above room temperature and pour it over the bread, mix to make sure the bread soaks up all the milk.
4. Cream butter, half of the sugar, and all the salt, spices and vanilla. Add the egg yolks one at a time.
5. Add ground almonds and the soaked bread cubes. Mix until smooth.
6. Make a meringue by beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then gradually add the remainder of the sugar and beat until no grains of sugar are visible anymore (approximately 6min).
7. Fold the meringue under the batter by first adding a couple of spoons and stirring them in. Then add the rest of the meringue in three parts, gently folding it into the batter.
8. Fold the fruit into the batter taking care not to lose too much of the air from the meringue.
9. Pour the mixture into the dish. Bake at 160C for 50-60min.
10. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with your favourite whipped cream, custard, icecream or yoghurt. Keeps well for 2-3 days in the fridge.