Danish Butter Cake

As promised, here is the Danish Butter Cake. This is good any time of the day from breakfast as a coffeecake, to evening as a dessert or, if you're like us, any time of the day. How can you possibly go wrong with almond filling, pastry cream, remonce, and chocolate? If you are not fond of almond paste, omit it from the remonce.

Last week I posted the Quick Danish Pastry and suggested you make the pastry cream. If you did and thawed it Tuesday or, at the latest, Wednesday, you're all set to make this extraordinary Danish Butter Cake.

The only unusual ingredient is the Swedish Pearl Sugar. I love using this to adorn coffeecakes and sweet rolls. The sugar is snow white and won't melt in the oven. It adds a welcome crunch to an otherwise soft cake.

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Assembly of the Danish Butter Cake

Quick Danish Pastry
1 recipe Pastry Cream, whisked smooth
Remonce, below
4 ounces coarsely chopped chocolate, optional* (114 grams)
1 egg, well beaten
Sliced Almonds, as needed
Swedish Pearl Sugar, as needed

*I use Callebaut's semisweet chocolate callets. They look like chocolate chips but are not. They are all chocolate that doesn't have to be chopped.

Remonce

You can see the remonce is made of equal parts, by weight, of the 3 ingredients.

4 ounces of almond paste (114 grams)
½ cup unsalted butter (114 grams, 4 ounces or 1 stick)
½ cup + 1 tablespoons packed brown sugar (114 grams or 4 ounces)

Grease and line a 9". Spray a 9" cheesecake or springform pan at least 2" deep with a cooking spray and set aside.

Divide the refrigerated dough into portions of ⅓ (about 165 grams or 5 ¾ ounces) and ⅔ (325 grams or 11 ½ ounces). Refrigerate the larger piece. Roll the smaller piece into a 9" circle and place it into the bottom of the cake pan. Spread the pastry with about ⅓ of the remonce (114 grams or 4 ounces) followed by all of the pastry cream.Sprinkle with the chocolate. Set aside.

Roll the remaining dough into a 12" square. Spread the pastry evenly with the remaining remonce. Roll the dough tightly and cut into eight 1 ½" swirls.

To make clean cuts, wrap a piece of thread around the mark and pull.

Flatten the swirls slightly. Place one swirl in the middle of the pan on top of the pastry cream and the rest spaced evenly around it. Be sure to tuck the ends of the rolls underneath the roll.Cover the pan. Let it rise for about 25 to 35 minutes, just until it begins to rise and the swirls look puffy. It will not fill the pan and that is as it should be.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the cake with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with the sliced almonds and pearl sugar.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, covering the top loosely with foil if it starts to brown too much.

The cake is best eaten the day it is made although it lasts for about 3 days, covered. It can also be well wrapped and frozen for up to a month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. To refresh it, wrap the Danish Butter Cake in foil, leaving an opening in the top and warm in a 350°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Microwave the slices briefly to take the chill off.