This recipe for Moravian sugar cake makes about 60 ounces of dough, enough to make 2 jelly roll pans of cake. In other words, enough for you and one of your dearest friends.
½cupwarm water(you can use the water from cooking the potatoes, if you want)
1Tablespoondried yeast
1cupunseasoned mashed potatoes(just potatoes--no milk or butter or anything)
1 ½teaspoonssalt
½cupsugar
5 ½ouncesmelted butter
1cupwhole milk
2whole eggs
32-35ouncesall-purpose flourenough to make a soft, sticky dough
For the Topping
6-8ouncesmelted butteryour call
1cupgranulated sugar
1cuplight brown sugar
½teaspooncinnamon
several gratings of fresh nutmegoptional
heavy pinch of fine salt
Instructions
For the Dough
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, pour in the warm water and yeast. Stir for a minute or so to dissolve the yeast.
Add the potatoes, salt, sugar, butter, milk eggs and about half of the flour. Mix on low until you have a smooth batter.
Change to the dough hook, and add most of the remaining flour. Mix on low speed until combined, and then knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. Test the dough by pulling some up with your fingers. It should be very sticky and stretchy and almost-but-not-quite flow-y. If the dough doesn't have enough body, knead in the rest of the flour. Keep in mind that wetter is better than drier when it comes to yeast dough.
Once you are happy with your dough, remove the bowl from the mixer and smooth the top of the dough with a pan-sprayed hand or spatula.
Cover and let rise in a warm-ish place for about 1 1/2-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Spray 2 jelly roll pans with pan spray (I made one batch with parchment-lined trays and one without. The parchment isn't necessary for this, so you can skip it if you want.
Divide the dough in half (I weigh mine) and plop half on each of the prepared sheets. Spray your hands and the top of the dough with pan spray to keep it from sticking, and start stretching/patting/pulling the dough to fit each pan. Alternate between pans to give the dough a chance to relax and make it easier to stretch.
Once the dough is shaped, spray it again with a little pan spray and cover with a lint-free towel or plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about an hour.
For the Topping
Set your oven racks for the bottom third and top thirds of your oven. Preheat oven to 400F (204C).
Whisk the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using), and salt together very well.
Once the dough is puffy, dimple the dough all over with your fingers. You don't have to be gentle--it's okay if you break holes all the way through the dough, even. Just dimple it all over very, very well.
Liberally brush 3-4 ounces of melted butter over each cake. The butter should pool in the little dimples.
Sprinkle half the sugar mixture evenly over each cake. Be generous--you pretty much don't want to see any dough showing through the sugar.
Place the cakes on the racks and bake for 7 minutes.
Switch the cakes on the racks and bake for 7 more minutes.*
Remove to racks to cool for a few minutes.
With a large spatula and maybe some help, slide the cakes out onto cooling racks so the bottoms don't get soggy. Slice however you think appropriate.
Serve warm.
Store at room temperature. If you're not going to eat all of this the same day, wrap the cakes well and freeze them.
Notes
*Ovens vary, so consider the baking time as a general guide. Yours may take a little longer. If you bake in 9"x13" pans, your sugar cake will also take longer to bake. Look for an internal temperature of 190-195F.For a Thicker Cake, bake in a 9"x13" pan. For a thinner more traditional sugar cake, bake in a half-sheet pan or jelly roll pan.You can freeze this whole cake cut in individual slices or cut into quarters. Cool completely, wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap and then in foil, and freeze for up to 3 months.Allow to thaw on the counter, still wrapped.
To Reheat
The traditional way to reheat this cake is to melt some butter in a cast iron skillet and then "fry" slices until crisp on the outsides and heated through. This is more easily done if your slices are thinner (made in a larger pan).If you prefer not to add extra butter, simply heat slices in the microwave for a few seconds, in your toaster oven, or in the oven. For oven heating, wrap in foil and bake at 350F for about 10 minutes until heated through.][]'