Topfenstriezel with marzipan and pistachio filling

#hoglathome: how are the Högl team spending their free time at home?

Social media manager Maria is baking an Austrian Topfenstriezel with marzipan and pistachio filling - and no need for yeast.

Yeast has become like gold dust in my local supermarket. But letting Easter go by without my beloved plaited yeast bun? Unthinkable! That’s why I came up with an alternative that’s in no way inferior to the traditional recipe – it’s just as delicious, moist and fluffy as my tried and tested Easter bun. The base for the dough is an Austrian curd cheese called topfen. As this is hard to find in supermarkets outside of Austria, you can of course use quark or cream cheese instead.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 250g curd cheese (topfen, or quark)
• 50ml milk
• 120g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 550g plain flour
• 7g baking powder
• 40g butter, at room temperature

For the filling:

• 75g ground pistachios
• 75g marzipan
• 60ml milk
• 60ml orange juice

For the topping:

• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp milk
• flaked almonds

Preparation

To make the filling, warm the milk and orange juice in a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the marzipan in small pieces, stirring until it dissolves. Stir in the pistachios. Then set the pan aside and let the filling cool down.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C (top and bottom heat).

To make the dough, put the topfen (or quark/cream cheese), milk, sugar and eggs in a large bowl and mix together. Weigh out the flour into a separate bowl. Sieve the baking powder into the flour and mix together, then stir this into the topfen-mixture. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the mixture. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes until it has a smooth texture.

Cut the dough in three and roll it into three long, straight strands. Then roll the strands flat with a rolling pin, coat them with the filling and roll up lengthwise to enclose the filling. Plait the three strands together.

Whisk an egg with a tablespoon of milk to make a glaze, and brush the Topfenstriezel with it. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top.

Bake in the oven on the middle shelf for around 50 minutes. As soon as the flaked almonds start to brown, cover the cake with baking paper.

You can find a step-by-step tutorial showing you exactly how to plait the dough on our Instagram channel – it’s saved in our #hoglathome story highlights.

I hope you enjoy baking this - have a happy and relaxed Easter at home!