APFEL KUCHEN or SCHWETCHE KUCHEN
(Apple or Plum Coffee-Cake) Apples and plums are customarily used, but peaches, nectarines and pears are delicious too. The Custard filling may be used with any fruit topping—it’s just traditional to have it with the plum cake. Start with this basic sweet dough, which is enough for 2 large cakes or 3 smaller ones.)*

Ingredients: BASIC COFFEE-CAKE DOUGH 2 eggs, well beaten ¼ C. milk, warmed 1 pkg. (or 1 TB) dry yeast ¼ C. warm water ½ C. butter (1 stick, melted but not hot) ¼ C. sugar ½ tsp. Salt 1 tsp. Grated lemon peel 3 C. flour, more if needed

1. Pour lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar in mixing bowl.

2. Add melted (not hot) butter, warmed milk, salt, lemon peel, and beaten eggs. Mix well.

3. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Add more flour, if necessary, to make a smooth dough, and turn out onto a floured surface.

4. Knead very lightly. 5. Let rise for about 1 hour; punch down and let rest for 10 minutes. 6. Spread dough in 2 well-greased 9-inch round or square cake pans, pushing it up on the sides as for pie crusts.

TOPPING FOR APFEL KUCHEN (1 Apple cake)
2 medium sized apples
1/3 C. sugar (white or brown)
2 TB bread crumbs
2 tsp. Cinnamon
4 TB melted butter

Peel and core apples, then cut into ¼ inch slices. Arrange in overlapping circles (or in random fashion if in a hurry) on top of dough. Drizzle melted butter over the fruit and crust, sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar and crumbs. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 350o for 35 or 40 minutes.


TOPPING FOR SCHWETCHEKUCHEN

(1 large Plum cake)

1 ½ lb. Italian (or other) plums
¼ to ½ C. white or brown sugar

¼ C. bread crumbs
2 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ C. melted butter

Form dough into pan as for Apfel Kuchen. Mix sugar, crumbs, and cinnamon together. Sprinkle about 1/3 of this mixture over the crust, Arrange sliced plums in overlapping rows over dough. Drizzle melted butter over crust and fruit. Sprinkle with mixture of sugar, crumbs, and cinnamon. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake as for apple cake. If desired, add the following custard filling, after partially baking crust and fruit, then adding custard before finishing the baking process..

CUSTARD FOR SWETCHEKUCHEN

After arranging plums on the dough, sprinkle them with cinnamon, sugar and crumbs. Let dough rise for 30 minutes, then bake for 7 minutes at 375. (Covering the crust lightly with aluminum foil may help to avoid excess browning.) Remove from oven, and pour this mixture over the plums:
1 beaten egg
1/3 C. cream
1 TB. sugar

Beat all together, pour over partially-baked cake, and continue baking at 350° for 15 minutes longer, or until the custard is set.

*We recommend that you bake one of these fruit coffeecakes at a time, unless you are serving several hearty eaters. For a small family, you might want to either use ½ of the recipe or use the rest of the dough for Cinnamon Rolls or a Streusel Kuchen.