Yeast Cake with Fruit and Streusel

A traditional Czech sheet cake: soft, lemon-scented yeast dough under a thick layer of seasonal fruit and buttery streusel.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Czech

Keyword Czech sheet cake, Fruit cake, Koláč na plech, yeast coffee cake

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 40

Rising and resting 1 30

Total Time 2 40

Servings slices

Calories 312kcal

Pour ¼ cup of the milk into a glass. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the sugar and 2 teaspoon active dry yeast. Rest in a warm spot 10–15 minutes, until foamy.
Melt 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, take it off the heat, and pour in the remaining milk to cool it. Whisk in 2 egg yolks. The mixture should be lukewarm, not hot.
In a large bowl, stir together 3 cups all-purpose flour, the remaining sugar, 1 Tablespoon lemon zest, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Make a well, pour in the butter mixture and the foamy yeast, and combine. Knead with a dough hook (lowest speed 1–2 minutes, then medium-low about 8 minutes), with a wooden spoon until it blisters and leaves the bowl, or by hand about 10 minutes. The dough is smooth, elastic, and only slightly sticky.
Cover and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot about 1 hour, until doubled.
Rub the streusel 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, and 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour together into crumbs.
Turn the dough out, knead briefly, shape into a ball, cover, and rest 15 minutes.
Butter the pan or line it with parchment. Press the dough thinly to the edges and shape a slightly raised rim. Rest on the pan 15 minutes while the oven heats to 350 °F.
Lightly whisk a little reserved egg white and brush the rims. Scatter 2 pounds seasonal fruit thickly (cut fruit cut side up), sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, and cover with streusel.
Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.

Weigh the flour for the most reliable dough. Too much flour from a packed cup is the usual cause of a stiff, dry cake.
Lukewarm, never hot: liquid over about 110°F kills the yeast.
The dough should be soft and slightly tacky, not stiff. If it feels dry, work in a splash more milk.
Fruit: use enough to cover the surface in a thick layer. Frozen fruit goes on straight from the freezer, do not thaw.
Oven: temperatures are for a conventional (non-fan) oven; for convection, lower by 25°F.
Smaller pans: for a 9×13-inch pan use about ⅔ of the recipe; for a 9×9-inch pan, half. Check for doneness a little earlier.
Optional finish: dust the cooled cake with confectioners' sugar, or drizzle the hot cake with melted butter stirred with 2 tablespoons spiced rum.
STORE: covered at room temperature about 3 days; refrigerate cut squares up to 5 days; freeze up to 3 months.