Pumpkin, Brown Butter & Créme Fraîche Danish Cake

Project Food Blog's Challenge #8, create a sweet or savory baked good 

using the ingredient, Pumpkin. This means....I made the cut! 

I still can't believe I made it this far. Being a newbie to cooking and baking still has its challenges and this competition has definitely pushed me to do things that I normally wouldn't do. Like hosting a Luxury Dinner Party, making a pizza with a Kimchi/Tomato sauce, and even starring in my own cooking video with my adorable sous chef. Throughout this contest, I especially enjoyed reading your comments, your encouraging words and most of all your support. A big thanks to all of you for allowing me to advance.

For this challenge, I decided to make a danish cake. With a créme fraîche, brown butter and pumpkin filling. I've made puff pastry and danish pastry dough in the past and I absolutely love the texture and butteriness. For this recipe I chose a danish pastry dough but instead of three folds, I believe I did 4 or 5 folds, closer to a puff pastry folding technique which calls for six folds.

The filling was reminiscent of a pumpkin cheesecake but with more pumpkin and spice than créme fraîche. Oh and brown butter. Who could forget the brown butter. My latest obsession.

It wasn't overly sweet and some said that it reminded them of a cinnabon or a danish coffee cake. I just thought it was tasty.

Printable Recipe
Ingredients
Danish Pastry Dough Croissant-Style
7 oz Water
1.25 oz Fresh Yeast
5 oz Bread Flour
2.5 oz Sugar
0.75 oz Salt
12 oz Milk
1.5 oz Water
2lbs Bread Flour
1lbs 4 oz Butter at room temperature

Egg Wash
1 Egg
2 tbsp Milk or Water

Directions
1. Measure the water and yeast mixture and pour water over the yeast. Mix well until yeast is dissolved. Sprinkle 5 oz of bread on top and allow to sit for 15 minutes. In another bowl mix together the sugar, salt, milk, and water until the solids have dissolved. Sift the flour and add it to the yeast mixture. Add the liquid mixture and begin mixing until it forms a dough. Using your hands mix the dough, avoid over mixing. Finish kneading by hand on the counter top dusted with flour. Cover and allow to ferment for about 40 minutes at room temperature then punch down the dough and place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

The dough after rising in the refrigerator

2.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle. Smear the room temperature butter over two thirds of the dough. leaving a margin around the edges. Fold the unbuttered third of the dough over the center.

3. Fold the remaining third on top. Turn 90º and roll out the dough into a rectangle, this was your first turn.
Repeat the process until you have reached 4 to 5 turns.

Refrigerate the dough for about 10-15 minutes if the butter is oozing out and then finish the folds. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before baking.

5. In the meantime, prepare the pumpkin filling. Wash and dry your pumpkin and cut in half. De seed the pumpkin.

6. A) Place pumpkins in about an inch and a half of water. B) Bake at 350º for about an hour. Use a fork to pierce the skin to see if it is done. C) Scoop out the pumpkin. D) Allow to cool. I put mine in the freezer and occasionally gave it a stir until cooled.

Ingredients
8 oz Créme Fraîche
4 Egg Yolks
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Pumpkin Spice
4 tbsp Brown Butter
2-1/2 Cups Fresh Pumpkin Puree

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 300º. Make your brown butter. Place your butter preferably in a stainless steel pan on low heat and allow the butter to brown, stirring. Take off heat and allow to cool. The brown butter should resemble the photo below. Combine the butter and pumpkin and puree in your food processor.

Combine the créme fraîche and sugar and beat well. Add the egg and vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and pumpkin spice and beat well. Puree together with the brown butter pumpkin mixture. Set aside.

2. A) Take the dough out of the refrigerator and measure about 17 oz (or whatever size you prefer) of dough and roll out into a circle. Place on parchment paper.

B) Cut about an inch to an inch and a half strips leaving the center uncut (as seen in the photo below). Scoop about a cup of filling in the middle. Be sure to leave enough of the center part uncut. Then take opposite ends and pull toward one another, overlapping until the pumpkin filling is completely sealed. Its ok if the pumpkin filling oozes out a bit, you can easily clean it up. Lift the parchment paper and danish cake up and place in a oven proof baking dish of your choice. Keep in mind that the dough will form into the shape of the baking dish.

3. Apply an egg wash and bake for 15 minutes on 300º. Then turn up the heat to 400º and bake for an additional 10 minutes or a bit more until golden.

I wasn't sure how it would turn out. And I was a bit worried because the way the dough appeared before baking was well, not so pretty. In fact, I was sure I had to start all over again. But I was nicely surprised with the results. I think I could of used a bit more of the pumpkin filling. Overall it was flaky and buttery with a delicious pumpkin filled goodness. Eat this right out of the oven for best results.

Oh, and then I thought I would try out another way of baking the leftover dough and filling (just in case the original plan had failed) and came up with the photos you see below.

Yes, silly me thought the dough would retain the shape I gave it before baking it and it came out looking like a huge danish. Thinking back I should have placed it in a baking dish to retain a better shape.

But sometimes mistakes are blessings in disguise because this style had more crispy flaky layers which was different from the danish cake and it was mighty good. This could go under as one of the largest danishes around, just kidding.

Voting begins November 29th at 9AM EST and ends December 2nd at 9PM EST. When the contestant widget below changes from My Profile to VOTE FOR ME, please send a vote my way. I'll be sure to post a reminder as well. Thanks!

And, I hope all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. What did you do? Food coma never tasted so good. I had my first fried Turkey this year. We were invited to a friends house this time around and it was sort of a potluck type deal and what a great idea to lessen the load of Holiday cooking. Last year we had a feast at my cousins with my entire family and extended family. I'm planning on hosting next year's festivities. 

Below are some photos I took of the Turkey Day spread. I brought a broccoli side and the pumpkin danish cake. When I told the guests how much butter I used, they just about fainted. 

Apple Onion Relish for Pumpkin Soup, Sweet Potato & Squash Casseroles,
Artichoke Stuffing, Sweet Potato Casserole topped with Marshmallow

Fried Turkey ya'll

The lovely table setting