A post-script to the (pre-)Christmas time, something to think about… a pre-script to a recipe?

A recipe, I cannot yet serve you, but I do want to offer my amusement about myself.

It took me some 40 years of life, more than 20 of them with a love for spices, to notice that Guglhupf cake existed in a spicy version!

And that, even though I love sweets, including Guglhupf – and of course, spicy things:

Add to that how the two I “discovered” are from the Hotel Sacher and the Konditorei Demel, two of Vienna’s most traditional houses… and they were famously different:

Sacher Spiced Guglhupf (Gewürzguglhupf)

Nicely moist, light in color, it comes with a “fat glaze” and flavored with orange, cointreau, and candied ginger.

Not really spicy, but not a normal Guglhupf, either.

Demel Gewürzguglhupf

On the other hand, the Christmas-y spicy guglhupf made by the Demel, with chocolate glaze and wintry sugar figures on top.

The spices here may have been a bit too close to those of a gingerbread, the chocolate-rich dark inner also becomes reminiscent of that – but that does not diminish the enjoyment.

Rather, the contrary: This is what I would want to call a true spiced/spicy Guglhupf!