Sunday, March 27, 2011

THE DARING BAKERS' MARCH 2011 CHALLENGE: Mets la main à la pâte! 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.

Recipe Source: Jamie found this recipe on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and it was brilliant! I too tried it, and it was more than brilliant!! LOL

It's been a really loooong while since I last made anything from Daring Bakers due to this wonderful pregnancy. Did bake various banancakes and cookies from allrecepes.com but oh well~ nothing too fancy :)

Honestly when I first saw the title "Coffee cake" I was very dissapointed, believing that it is a cake WITH coffee or some coffee taste which I am not too fond of. But nop, there is no coffee in the ingredients, so I guess this is a cake (taste more breadlike) one eats while having coffee. The out come was a superb soft bread with crunchy buttery crust and a very very soft inner bread. I am soooo keeping this recipe, it is very flexible, I tried it with sweet and savory fillings and both were DELICIOUS!

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients 
For the yeast coffee cake dough:
4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
*optional 1/4 teaspoon of grinded Jamaican pepper (actually any spice like nutmeg, cinnamon, or herbs will be great for adding the extra touch. I have a garam marsala recipe at the botton from

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 葡萄奶酥 Raisin butter custard filling:
50g egg (1 large egg)
200g powder whole milk
200g butter (room temperature)
200g confectioner' sugar
1/2 cup of raisin (I too hate raisins in my cookies, but somehow this fits in nicely)

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions

Prepare the dough:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
2. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted
3. 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.
4. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.
5. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together.
6. 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.
7. Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides.
8. 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 葡萄奶酥 Butter Custard filling:
1. Beat the butter and sugar along until fluffy (1min). I used an electric beater/mixer.

2. Add egg and beat until flyffy (30 sec).
3. Beat in powder milk for another 30sec or until all is blended smoonthly.
**Use the raisins for assembly

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
1. 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.
2. 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:
1. Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Punch down the dough and divide in half.
3. 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.
4. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges.
5. Spread the butter custard and then sprinkle raisins over the custard. *Make sure that it reaches the sides as once you roll them up, you still want fillings where the 2 end meets (step 9)!
6. Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side.
7. Pinch the seam closed to seal.
8. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.
12. Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.
13. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
14. Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash.
15. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.
16. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. 17. 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.
18. 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.

These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day. They are also good if frozen after cold, just have to make sure that it is wrapped in freezer bags. When you want to thaw them, just take then out and wrap with paper towel to absorb any moist preventing the bread from becoming soggy. They are good too eaten warm!!!


I also made one with ham and cheese filling :) I am more of a savory tooth while my hubby loves any bread with butter custards.

Additional Information:
The recipe calls for active dried yeast. An excellent source for yeast conversions and substitutes is http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/19314/re-yeast-conversion-fresh-dry-and...
Or
http://www.foodsubs.com/LeavenYeast.html

From Jamie and Ria:
**Garam (means “hot”) masala (means “mixture”) is a blend of ground spices and is used in most Indian savory dishes. It is used in limited quantities while cooking vegetables, meats & eggs. There is no “one” recipe for it as every household has a recipe of their own. Below, I am going to share the recipe which I follow. 

4 or 5 sticks (25 g) Cinnamon Sticks (break a stick and open the scroll)
3 ½ tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cloves, whole
100 g. (3.5 oz.) Fennel seeds
4 tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cumin seeds
1 ½ tablespoons (10 g / less than half an ounce) Peppercorns
25 g (less than half an ounce) Green Cardamom pods

In a small pan on medium heat, roast each spice individually (it hardly takes a minute) until you get a nice aroma. Make sure you stir it throughout so that it doesn’t burn. As soon as each spice is roasted, transfer it to a bowl to cool slightly. Once they are all roasted, grind into a fine powder by using a coffee grinder, or pestle & mortar. Store in an airtight container and use as needed.