From the moment I read what the challenge was, I began to fantasize about the various flavor combinations I might try. I toyed with the idea of apples and cinnamon, dark chocolate chunks with toasted pecans, candied lemon peel and coconut. Oh yum, the possibilities were endless. I found myself awake at night trying to decide what I wanted to use for the two cakes. I must have changed my mind a zillion times it was so hard to land on just what I was in the mood for!
Last year's poppy hamentashen
The fact that the kids were coming home on Purim weekend helped me to decide the flavor for one of the cakes. In place of hamantashen, the usual Purim cookie, I’d stuff one of the coffeecakes with the traditional poppy seed filling that usually fills the hamentashen. For the second cake, I settled on white chocolate, toasted macadamia nuts, and dried cranberries.
Fortunately, I have plenty of experience with yeasted dough so I wasn’t at all intimidated by the recipe although having a layer of sweetened meringue inside was new to me. It made for a bit of a sticky mess when rolling and shaping the cakes, but added a delicious sweetness and moisture when it was absorbed into the dough as it baked. I had some ideas about flavoring the meringue as well (coffee flavored meringue with a chocolate and toasted almond filling crossed my mind) so if you decide to challenge yourself to make this recipe, remember that you can go wild with experimenting and adding layers of flavor! I could have easily baked (and eaten!) 8 or 9 different versions of this cake and I’m quite certain I’ll be returning to the basic recipe again because it made such a silky, sexy, easy to work with dough that produced a tender and versatile bread that would make fabulous sticky or cinnamon buns as well as savory filled loaves or pockets.
Both cakes turned out fabulously and we happily scarfed them down over the course of weekend making for another remorse filled Monday of deprivation but it was worth every bite! Here are the photos and the basic recipe:
I do hope you’ll try to make one of these cakes!
- The dough after its first rising
- The white chocolate, macadamia nut, cranberry ring before rising and baking
- The baked white chocolate cranberry coffeecake dusted with powered sugar. Yum!
- A slice of the white chocolate, macadamia nut, cranberry coffecake. So moist and delicious!
- The baked poppyseed coffecake ring with lemon glaze. Sooo delicious
- A lot of air in the poppyseed coffeecake but still yummy!
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake
FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:
4 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dried yeast
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
For the meringue:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar
For the filling: Your choice! Be creative! I used:
1C white chocolate chips
¾ C toasted macadamia nuts
¾ C chopped dried sweetened cranberries
Directions:
Prepare the dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.
With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.
Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.
Prepare your filling (roast and chop nuts, measure chocolate, etc)
My prepped white chocolate, toasted macadamia nuts, and dried cranberries
Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.
Assemble the Coffee Cakes:
Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).
Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.
Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.
Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.
Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.
Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.
Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. Or glaze with a complimentary flavored icing. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.
Eats Obsessed: Living to Eat 