Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker's Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria's Collection and Jamie of Life's a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged the Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. This is the third yeasted cake I have baked this winter season. Each of these cakes were different yet the same. Oh don't misunderstand this is far from a complaint. It's just that each one was so delicious it was very hard to share. However this challenge yielded 2, yes two cakes. Can you see my smile? I can share this time!!!!

Ria and Jaime gave the Daring Baker's the freedom to choose the filling for these beautiful coffee cakes. I chose to keep it simple with a cinnamon and raisin filling. The recipe as you know can be found on some of my fellow baker's blogs. I will leave it in your capable hands to search out. However, I will review the directions.

To preparing the dough combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar , salt, and yeast in a bowl. Set aside. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, and butter. Heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is melted.

Using an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase the mixer speed and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup of the remaining flour. Beat 2 more minutes. I changed out the beater for the dough hook at this point and add only a little more of the flour. Then kneased the dough for 8-10 minutes until the dough was smooth, soft, and elastic.

The dough goes into an oiled bowl and covered with plastic for its first rise. In the meantime the filling may be prepared. I combined sugar, cinnamon, and raisins in a bowl and set aside. This version calls for a meringue to be prepared using egg whites, sugar, salt and vanilla. When the dough is ready- punch it down and divide it in half. Roll each half one at a time into a rectangle. spread them with the meringue and cinnamon raisin filling. Roll the rectangles into logs and form a ring. Using scissors cut slits along the outside edge.

Cover the cake with plastic and let them rise again. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the cakes with an egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and risen. the dough should sound hollow when tapped. I drizzled the top with a lemon juice, powdered sugar and milk glaze. Then sprinkled with chopped pecans.

The cake was soft, delicately sweet with just enough filling to make it difficult to stop at one piece. Consequently, I after tasting I found it very hard to part with the second cake. Although I really love to see that smile emerge when someone takes their first bite. So....off it went to make yet someone else happy.

King Cake for Mardi Gras

This week is Mardi Gras and although I have never had the opportunity to join the festivities down south, it does not deter my curiousity. After reading and searching for information and a worthy King Cake recipe this is what I found. The King Cake tradition came to New Orleans with the first French settlers and has stayed ever since. Although some of the details have evolved and changed over the years, whoever got the porcelain baby, coin, or bean in their slice of cake would host the party next year.

For the recipe I decided to use a version from Emeril Lagasse. This version is filled with a sweetened cream cheese filling. This King Cake is a yeast cake enriched with egg and butter. So lets begin with the ingredients.

2 envelopes active dry yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1 cup milk (about 110 degrees)

5 egg yolks, at room temp

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp oil

1 lb cream cheese, at room temp

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

5 tbs milk, at room temp

2 tbs lemon juice

Purple, green, and gold sugar sprinkles (purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power)

king baby, bean or pecan half

1.- Combine the yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the melted butter and warm milk. Beat at low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, add the egg yolks, then beat 1 minute at medium speed. Add the flour, salt, nutmeg, and zest; beat until everything is incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, forms a ball, and climbs up the dough hook.

2.- Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball. Lightly oil a bowl with the vegatable oil. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic, Set aside in a warm, draft-free place unmtil doubled, about 2 hours.

3.- Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Blend until smooth. Set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

4.- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and using your fingers, pat it out to a rectangle about 30" x 6". Spread the filling lengthwise over the bottom half of the dough. Flip the top half of dough over the filling and pinch the sides to seal. Shape the dough into a cylinder and shapre into a ring, seam side down on the parchment lined sheet. Insert the bean, baby, or pecan into the bottom of the ring. Cover the ring with a clean cloth and place in a warm, draft-free place. Let the dough rise until it is doubled, about 45 minutes.

5.-Brush the top of the risen cake with 2 tbs of milk. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

6.- Make the icing: Combine the remaining 3 tbs milk, lemon juice, and 2 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl. Stir to blend well. With a rubber spatula, spread the icing evenly over the top. Sprinkle the sugar crystals, alternating colors. Set aside to set up.

This cake yields 22-32 slices depending on how thick it is cut. The cake is wonderful, the nutmeg is delecate, not overpowering. The cream cheese filling is slightly sweet and the addition of vanillia makes it heavenly. I received many compliments from many tasters. It is really not as labor intensive as it sounds. I hope you give it a try. I know I will be making this again soon (but, I'll have to change the colors and its name)!

Old World Braided Coffee Cake

Wow, a record....three posts over three days! Love it! The March project with the Avid Baker's or "ABC" was Old World Braided Coffee Cake from Flo Braker, Baking For All Occassions. This coffee cake is a traditional enriched yeast cake with a delicious walnut filling. It may look difficult and is definitely impressive. It can be enjoyed any time of day or for any occassion. Lets take a look.

I started with the filling a day early. The recipe calls for ground walnuts (but I am sure almonds, pecans, or macadamia nuts can be used with equal success), sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, heavy cream, maple syrup, vanilla, and egg whites. Quite a list but don't let that scare you away. Aside from the egg whites the ingredients come together very easily in a food processor. The egg whites are added to the mixture after they are whipped. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight.

I don't dabble heavily into yeast based recipes because my success rate is usually 50-50. I know, I know success comes with experience. Ok, I really just want a little better odds! Anyway the chicken that I am would have ran the other way at the sight of the "y" word. Lately however, I embrase them still keeping my fingers and toes crossed though.

The sweet yeast dough ingredients are flour, sugar, yeast, salt, milk, butter, vanilla, and eggs. The instructions are a little different in that the yeast is added to the dry ingredients without proofing first. However, to my suprise and relief it worked.

The most impressive part of this project is forming the coffee cake. When the dough is ready it is rolled into a 16x12 rectangle, divided into three vertical strips by gently poking it with a fork. The filling is spread down the middle section. More strips are cut horizontally into the side flaps. Then one by one alternating sides the strips are folded over the filling. The results are a very impressive braid.

The cake comes out of the oven a beautiful golden color with a delicious aroma. A simple sugar glaze is spread over the top for that added shine. This cake is very good and I surely won't hesitate to make it again. Great choice Hanaa!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

This week I was able to hop over to the Heavenly Cake Bakers and join in the fun of making Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sticky Toffee Pudding is something I have never made but have it on my radar to try for quite some time. Several (and I mean probably 5 or more) summers ago a popular ice cream maker had a contest to come up with a new flavor. The winner was, yes you guessed it, Sticky Toffee Pudding. Ever since then it has remained on my mind so this was the perfect chance to give it a go.

The dessert is broken down into 3 main components. The first being the spice cake. The batter calls for stout beer, dates (yum, my favorite), butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. As always I cut the recipe in half and used a small rectangular Pyrex baking dish. I reduced the oven temperature as per Rose's suggestion and it still took a bit more time than she suggested. No problem though.

The next component is a Butterscotch Toffee Sauce. Here I switched out and used Cinnamon-Honey Carmel Glaze, a recipe from my blogger friend Hanaa, at Hanaas Kitchen. It promised to be a little lighter and included some honey- I was sold! The rest of the ingredients are cinamon, brown sugar, heavy cream, butter, honey, and a little lemon juice. For these directions I'll have to direct you to Hanaa's Kitchen but, it is well worth the trip.

The last component to this lovely dessert is some lightly whipped creme fraiche (I used lightly sweetened heavy cream) and some pecans. To put this all together is a snap. Cut a square of the warm spiced, moist cake drizzled with the lovely, silky smooth Caramel Glaze. Top it off with a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle with pecans. What is not to like!

All I can say about this is "Oh my this is devine!" Hope you get the opportunity to try some. Let me know what you think!

The Daring Bakers' Challenge for February 2011

The February 2011 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. As soon as I saw this challenge I couldn't help but smile. Panna Cotta or "cooked cream" is one of my honey's favorites. It is light and creamy and simply delicious in any flavor. Topped with a fruit jam, fresh fruit, or gelee it's over the top good!

The recipe that Mallory suggested is from Giada De Laurentis and is my favorite "go to" recipe as well. The ingredients list is short: milk, powdered gelatin, heavy cream, honey, sugar, and a pinch of salt. For the directions I'll let you visit Mallory's blog or one of my fellow Daring Bakers blogs, or you can go back to my post from June 2010. I chose to top mine with some fruite gelee using blueberries that I had been saving in the freezer for just this sort of occassion. I also decided to try some of Mallory's suggested coffee gelee too. I couldn't decide which I liked best. Oh well, I'll just have to keep tasting. :)

The next part of the challenge was to make Nestles's Florentine Cookies. I have made many a cookie in my day but, never a florentine cookie using oatmeal. That's right something healthy....as in oatmeal, and fiber. Oh and a chocolate filling too. We all know how good chocolate is for us!

The cookie dough came together easily and baked up nice and chewy. I had some chocolate ganache from a previous project so I used it to fill the florentines. A wise choice if I do say so myself. These cookies were addicting!

Overall, this was a very tasty challenge. My honey was happy as were my other taste testers. Thank you Mallory for presenting this challenge.

Linzers for Valentine's Day!

What better day to bake up a batch of seductive, deliciously addictive linzer cookies! Actually, I don't need a special day to whip these pretty little cookies up. Linzers can be just as yummy whether they are 2" or 4" in diameter. The nut flour used in the cookie batter can be almond, walnut, hazelnut, or pecan.The jam filling can be absolutely any flavor you want. They are fun and that's why I love these so much. They are also one of the most asked for cookie in my arsenal. Since it is a special day and I know you want to get going we'll get right to my easy recipe.

Raspberry Linzers:

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 1/2 cup finely ground almonds

1 cup cake flour

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Jam

Powdered sugar

Cream the butter with the paddle attachment (minimally). Add sugar and cream a bit more. Add egg, lemon zest, vanilla, and mix,. Add the nuts; mix well. Stir the remaining ingredient together and add to the butter-nut mixture. Form into a 6" disk, wrap with plastic and chill.

Roll out the dough to 1/8" thick on lightly floured surface or between two peices of parchment (preferred method). Cut with 2-4" round cutter. Cut the center out of half the cookies in whatever shape you desire (round, heart, flour, letter....you get the idea). Chill again for about 20 minutes.

Line cookies sheets with parchment, silicone matt, or silpat. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes, or just until the edges are golden. Cool completely.

Using a strainer sprinkle the cookie tops only with powdered sugar. Add a small amount of jam (too much will sqeeze out the sides when you take a bite) to the bottom halves and cover with sugared tops. Add a drop to fill the center cut out if necessary.

Well, that's it! Simple, right and a wonderful alternative or as a complimentary partner to chocolate.

Hope you enjoy some time with your special sweetie!

Date Nute Bread

One of my favorite foods is.... am I that predictable? Yes, it is the wonderful date. I have made several posts over the past year with the date as the star attraction. Well, nothing takes me back to childhood than thoughts of Date Nut Bread. Anyone out there remember Thomas' brand Date Nut Bread? Well, I loved it smeared with cream cheese. Ooooo yeah! I have been searching but, now I found it! A recipe for it, a perfect recreation. So I won't tease you anymore. 1 cup boiling water 1 cup chopped dates 1 tbs butter 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1/4 cup molasses 2 tsp vanilla 2 eggs 1/2 cup All-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup coarse chopped walnuts

1.- In a bowl, pour the hot water over the dates and butter. Stir and let stand until lukewarm.

2.- In a food processor, puree 1/2 of the date mixture to a paste. Stir paste back into the date bowl.

3.- Add brown sugar, molasses, vanilla and eggs. Mix until combines. Add the walnuts.4.- In another bowl, sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the date mixture. Stir until well combined. Pour the mixture into a buttered and parchment lined loaf pan (9x5).

5.- Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50-55 minutes until the tester pick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan at least 30 minutes before turning out. Optional: Brush the top with honey while still warm. This is the closest I have been able to find to my old favorite. Let me know what you think of this version. And if you want to share your old favorites, please do.