coffee cakes

Chai Coffee Cake And A Giveaway

31.10.2009 458 Comments

It won’t be a surprise to say that there is always cake at the ready in the house. Whether it be for B. as a late night snack after a music job, friends dropping by on a late saturday afternoon, or simply as a quick snack as we pass by the kitchen. It’s usually a variation of my grandma’s yogurt cake. Always good. Always comforting. One cake I never make enough is coffee cake. You know, the kind with the lovely strudel top that is both crunchy and soft as you bite into it. But then Nicole’s Chai Spiced Coffee Cake entered my life. Twice in one week. Three times a day, once.

I did not make it twice just for us and just because. You see, a couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a high school senior here in town, Haley, whose senior project was to recreate the Julie-Julia project but with David Lebovitz' Room For Dessert book. Haley asked if I would have a bit of time to give her some tips about running her blog chronicling the project, photography, writing, etc… I said yes. I remember when I started blogging that I was often looking up to my seniors for pointers (I still do at times) so I thought it was a great opportunity to give back to the blogging community. I am no expert but I have been at this blogging thing for a while now, eheheh.

And I love when life on the screen brings about wonderful little happenings like this!

Anyway, I thought we’d have some cake and tea and get right into the nitty nifty gritty of blogging and pictures. Well, schedules got out of hands and I never got to make that Chai Coffee Cake for Haley. We did meet this week and spent a great afternoon. I hope I answered her questions, at least until next time we meet. I gave her tips on how to operate her point and shoot camera to the best of its capacity, tips on light, focus, etc…and let her play with my props. Hopefully, there will be cake next time we do this!

I love this cake on so many levels but first and foremost because it is one of the recipes that Nicole included in her newly released first cookbook, "The Baking Bites Cookbook". Nicole’s Blog, Baking Bites is one of the handful of blogs I started reading prior to starting my own. We were "blog friends from afar" until we finally met at BlogHer Food in San Francisco. Nicole is as delightful and true as she is on her blog. I am so proud that she achieved one of her lifelong dreams by writing this book.

I bluntly asked her if I could feature one of her recipes and introduce some of you to her blog if you did not read it already and to her "baby", The Baking Bites Cookbook. She agreed. I bluntly added "hey! Would you be ok to give a copy to one reader?" and she said yes. So here you go: there is one free copy of this delicious book up for grabs. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. The giveaway runs until Monday November 2nd, midnight US Eastern time and a reader will be chosen at random to receive a copy.

Given how good the Chai Coffee Cake was, I can’t wait to bake more from Nicole’s book!

Chai-Spiced Crumb Coffee Cake, from The Baking Bites Cookbook with permission of Nicole Weston:

Cinnamon is the standard spice for topping a crumb coffee cake. This coffee cake keeps the crumb topping and spices it up a little more by using some of the same flavors that are found in chai, including cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and allspice. These spices really help to make the coffee cake memorable – and they also make you want to come back for a second slice.

Note: the only change I made to the recipe was to fill my baking pan with half the batter, sprinkle some of the topping and add the remaining batter and topping.

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

Cake:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream, full or low fat

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or lightly greased aluminum foil.

Make the Topping:
In a medium bowl, combine all topping ingredients except butter. Whisk to blend.
Gradually stir in the melted butter, using a large fork or spatula to mix. When all the butter has been incorporated and the mixture looks like wet sand, squeeze small clumps together to make large crumbs ranging in size from that of a pea to that of a grape. Set aside.

Make the Cake:
In another medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. With the mixer set on a low speed (or by hand), alternately add in flour and sour cream in two or three additions. When no streaks of flour remain, pour into prepared pan. Top evenly with crumb mixture.
Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Serves 9-12

Swedish Walnut Tea Ring

17.01.2008 49 Comments

Hard to believe that in spite of the amount of bread I bake every week, from simple baguettes to brioche or my now well known love affair with cinnamon rolls, I have not participated in one single Bread Baking Day event, created by Zorra. Something had to change! When Eva announced this month’s theme, I knew I could not pass on it: shaped bread. I love messing with decoratively shaped breads such as Sunflower rolls, Dulce de Leche Rolls, Apricot Couronne and others. There is one that I love to make on an almost weekly basis: the Tea Ring. Over the past years, I have tried so many different recipes that I have come up with a basic dough that is light and soft yet sturdy enough to accommodate many different spices, nuts and fillings.

This one has my beloved cardamom in the dough, as well as cinnamon and walnuts inside. The crumb is perfectly tight to hold it own dunked in coffee and yet soft enough to melt in your mouth. I make it using either instant dry yeast or rapid rise yeast and never had a problem either or. With the instant dry yeast, you will need to proof it first in the warm milk. If you are relatively new at bread making this can be easily messed up if your liquids are too hot. Using rapid rise yeast decrease this risk because you just mix it in with the rest of the ingredients, skipping that proofing step.

Which one do I use? Both, and I admit that I have come to love the rapid rise kindbecause I don’t have to mess up with the liquid temperatures, if that gets me yelled at by the bread police, well then be it! My take on it is that if it sold and it works to produce lovely breakfast rings like this one, I am in! Since I use the instant yeast and proofing method for this one, I will write the recipe down as such, but know that is ok to be ~~lazy~~ busy and throw the yeast in with the rest of the ingredient if you use rapid rise.

Swedish Tea Ring:

Ring Dough:
1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 Tb sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp. cardamom
zest of one lemon
2 1/2 – 3 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 TB cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tb milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the milk until tepid (105F-110F). In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in the warm milk until foamy, about 1o minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups flour, butter, salt, sugar, egg, lemon zest and mix using the dough hook until the dough comes together. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour if the dough is still too soft. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to a 12×18 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter all over the rectangle. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, sugar and walnuts. Spread this mixture evenly across the dough. Roll the dough into a long roll and press the seam closed. With the seam turned downward, seal the two ends together to make a ring.
Place the ring on a parchment paper lined baking pan. Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears, make cuts every inch or so along the ring, cutting only three quarters of the way through. Twist each piece slightly so that the rolls fan out from the center of the ring. Cover the roll with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Bake at 375F , 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the ring from the oven, place on a rack to cool.
When cooled, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and drizzle the glaze all over the ring.

Plum Meyer Lemon Jam Coffee Cake

17.09.2007 36 Comments

Not to worry, this cake is only a mouthful in its pronounciation as it is actually neither dense nor dry, even after a few days parked in your fridge. I made it on friday morning before work and we left for the weekend (and a bad sunburn made me turn as red as a Strawberry Mirror Cake)to enjoy some alone time before my parents get here. When we got back tonight and wanted something to snack on after dinner, I pulled it out of the refrigerator and it was just as good as the first day.

I have a bad weakness for coffee cake and I am always on the lookout for a good recipe. I see one I like just about everyday but when Belinda from What’s Cooking in a Southern Kitchen posted this one, my tastebuds got excited again. I wanted to use one of the 9 jars of Plum-Meyer Lemon jam I had made after the Ricotta Cake instead and beside keeping the proportions of solid to liquid the same, I departed from the recipe and made it my own according to what I had in the fridge. Coffee cakes are like good friends: strong and familiar, present and comforting.

You could use any combination of jam or marmelade that you want, but Sunny my market man gave me five pounds of Italian plums for only four dollars the other day and they got fast chopped up for jam! Since I wanted to use my Meyer lemons to their full capacity I kept the rinds of the ones used in the lemon curd for the ricotta cake and infused the jam with them. The flavor of the plum is now out of this world! For the topping I added finely ground almonds to enhance the plum flavor in the middle of the cake. Where the recipe called for cream cheese I opted for mascarpone cheese. I also substituted buttermilk and sour cream for the milk as I had ran out of bakig powder and only used baking soda for the leavining agent which only works if used with a sour ingredient. Since I sometimes have a difficult time putting my best English forward, go read Veronica’s post about it, she said ten times better than I would!

I followed a basic jam making method from Christine Ferber (our French June Taylor): put together in a large pot (I use a big Dutch oven) same weight of fruit to sugar, juice and zest of 4 lemons (I used the rinds of mine) and a vanilla bean. Bring to a summer, turn off the heat, cover the top with parchement paper and refrigerate overnight. The next day, take off the parchement paper, bring the mixture to a boil and let it cook for 5-10 minutes. Skim the top foam if necessary. Laddle in sterilized jar, cover with the lids. Submerge the cans in boiling water for 10-25 minutes, remove and let cool. If the top pops while they are cooling, you have canned them properly, if not, refrigerate and use within the week.

The only problem with the cake? I think I already ate too much of it to have enough left to share with my parents…Well darn, I’ll have to make more…hehehe!

Plum Meyer Lemon Jam Coffee Cake:

Serves 12 (in theory)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 Tablespoons butter
8 oz mascarpone, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
10 oz. plum lemon jam (or other)

Combine first 4 ingredients; cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle in a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan; set aside.
Beat mascarpone cheese, butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and baking soda, add to the mascarpone cheese mixture alternately with the buttermilk and sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Spoon half of batter into prepared pan, spoon jam over batter, being careful not to allow the jam to touch the sides of the pan, top with the remaining batter.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for about an hour or until cake tests done. Cool in pan on a wire rack for ten minutes; remove from pan, and cool on wire rack.

Cherry and Coconut Coffee Cake

10.06.2007 30 Comments

As I am writing this there is only one piece left of this delectable coffee cake. We had company over this morning and the six of us practically devoured it all. It took all the persuasion in the world to save this little piece for a photo opportunity. "Good" would be a small word to describe it…it brought silence to a table of people mighty hungry after a boating excursion.
I usually have a brioche ready for sunday brunches, either toasted with butter or turned into French toast, but I kept seeing coffee cakes popping on a couple of blogs and my stash of fresh cherries was demanding some attention, other than clafoutis or muffins.

I fell in love with coffee cakes a few months after moving to the US. What’s not to love in a cake filled with spices or fruit and topped with shortbread crumbs? What’s no to love in a cake so versatile that you can adapt it to the seasons ans have any time of the day? Made with coffee or served during coffee breaks, it seems to have taken a life of its own regarding ingredients much like creme brulee has its variations.

I figured that there was only a few authorities capable of giving me the "perfect" recipes, and I turned to our trusted Dorie Greenspan for ideas. I adapted her original recipes to fit the ingredients I wanted to use and since I am still on my coconut and cherry kick, well, here they are again!

Cherry and Coconut Coffee Cake, adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Serves 8

For the crumb topping:
5 Tb unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup almond, chopped
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Put all the ingredients, minus the nuts in a food processor and pulse until it forms coarse crumbs. Put into a bowl, sit in the nuts , cover and refrigerate while you prepare the cake.

For the cake:
2 cups, fresh pitted cherries (can use frozen, not thawed)
2 cups plus 2 tsp. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest of one lemon
6 Tb. butter, room temp
2 eggs
1 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup grated unsweet coconut

Toss the cherries with 2 tsp. flour and set aside.
Combine the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and grated coconut together.
With a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together with the lemon zest. Add the eggs, one at a time and add the coconut extract. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure it is all combined. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the the flour mixture and coconut milk alternately, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
Gently stir in the cherries.
Pour the mixture in a 8×8 inch square baking dish lined with foil and coated with cooking spray. Spread the top with the crumb topping.
Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes back clean.

I have to say that this is one cake I am looking forward to make on a weekly basis and adapt it to whatever I have in the fridge or pantry.
I hope it will make a nice addition to Rosa's Sunday Brunch Event .