YEASTED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE - Daring Baker's Challenge - March 2011

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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 was a delicious challenge, full of room for creating new fillings for this wonderful dough, as long as it had meringue inside! I had never heard of that before but it sounded delicious. By the way, the story behind this recipe is intriguing:

"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 made three different loaves out of a whole recipe of dough, meaning that I haven't changed anything in the dough and yet came up with three totally different results, two sweet and one savory:

Apple and cinnamon 

Dark chocolate and walnuts

Broccoli, ham, onions and cheese

The end result was a very fluffy and delicious dough and the meringue inside almost disappeared, leaving a sweet moisture inside the cake. The savory version was adapted with a savory meringue, made from beaten egg whites, a little salt and finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Of course, the egg whites lost almost all of their volume, but it was still spreadable and still added moisture to the loaf. I also shaped it differently, twisting the  apparent filling, but thought they would've cooked better if trapped inside the dough.

Thank you Ria and Jamie for this delicious challenge! These cakes are really perfect with a cup of coffee or tea!

Visit THE DARING KITCHEN to see the mouthwatering coffee cakes other Daring Bakers have made! You will also find the origianal recipes and guidelines for this challenge.

YEASTED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE

For the 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

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:

1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Egg wash:

1 beaten egg

Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

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:

In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to

this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.

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 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. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

My twists:

I divided the dough in tree equal parts. The first part was done as described above, using one third of the ingredients for the filling (could have used more, though :)

In the second version I substituted apples for the chocolate and walnuts (could have used walnuts as well, but I forgot :(

And the third version was savory, so I omitted the sugar and vanilla from the meringue and folded in 50g Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated. The meringue lost its volume but could be easily spread on the dough, and then I sprinkled 3/4 cup chopped raw broccoli, 1/2 cup chopped ham and 1 small onion, chopped. 

To shape the savory loaf I used THIS TECHNIQUE, but found that the exposed pieces of ham and broccoli got a bit dry. Next time I will keep them trapped inside the dough for a more even baking.

I haven't shaped my cakes as wreaths, as suggested by the hostess, because they were too small for that.