THE DARING BAKERS’ MARCH, 2011 CHALLENGE: YEASTED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE

So... this is my first challenge with the daring baker's and even though it took me all day, I think it turned out our pretty darn good!

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.

The Ingredients (for the yeast coffee cake dough)

Start by mixing up the dough.There is YEAST yikes!

 

 

 

 

Dry ingredients first!!! 

Combine milk, butter, and water and heat over warm until the butter is melted

Once the butter is melted pour the heated milk mixture into the flour mixture. THEN.... stir, stir, stir, until it forms a dough that holds together.

Put dough on to a floured surface and knead... knead... knead

Place dough into a lighly greased bowl. Cover and let the dough rise for an hour.

Near the end of the hour, make your meringue and set aside!

Halve the dough because this recipe makes two coffee cakes. Roll out half the dough

Now... spread the meringue evenly across the dough leaving about an inch on all sides... believe me... if you don't do that, it gets a little messy when you start rolling! On top of the meringue put your topping on. For one of my coffee cakes I used a cinnamon/sugar mixture and a chopped up Hershey's bar... the other one, I used cherries and sugar. Then roll it up like a Swiss Cake Roll and then turn into a wreath. Cut into the wreath with a kitchen scissors. Let the cakes rise AGAIN (dang yeast!) Then bake!

Here's the final product!

It was challenging. it was yummy. I can't wait until next month! :)







 RECIPE!

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
10 strands saffron for Ria’s version (Saffron might be hard to find and it’s expensive, so you can substitute with ½ - 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom or ground nutmeg. Or simply leave it plain like Jamie’s version)
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:
Jamie’s version: 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