Joy the Baker » coffee cake

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

joythebaker — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:24:12 +0000

Now is not the time to be thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Ignore the plastic Christmas trees at Costco… we still have time. We have months. The year is not over yet. We can totally take it easy.

I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions. They’re totally unrealistic, right? I feel like my best intentions of dieting, cleaning, saving money, and being a better human in the world are all flushed down the toilet when I cut people off in traffic while eating doughnuts and throwing money out the window on January 2nd. (Was that a run-on sentence?) ((Don’t answer that.))

Ok. So I don’t throw money out the window. Come on…

Let me get to the point.

I like to make mini resolutions. I make a little resolution, in my crazybrain, each season. Here we are in Autumn… and it’s time to rearrange my goals. I totally nailed my summer goals of wearing bikini tops as bras and keeping my nails done-did. Now it’s time to rearrange.

This Autumn is all about loving hard, giving quality time to others, not texting at dinner, and wearing these friendship bracelets until they fall off my wrist. I keep it simple. It’s usually the simple intentions that influence the larger movements in my life. Trust. I’m not completely superficial.

Do you have some goals you’re going to make this Autumn? Do they have anything to do with living right and making this awesome, yeasty coffee cake!? Say yes! Live right!

As with most good things, this coffee cake starts with a yeasted dough base.

The dough is full of eggs and butter, which make if really easy to work with and knead. It reminds me of a cake/bread hybrid.

Oh… did I mention that we’re making not one, but TWO coffee cakes!? True. It’s we’re going to take the time to work with yeast, let’s just make two cakes and freeze one! Good thinking.

Does this look like the makings of a cinnamon roll with apples? You’re not far off! This coffee cake is like a series of cinnamon rolls that are connected.

Cinnamon apples and streusel fill this cake.

Apple pie meets coffee cake meets cinnamon roll.

Yea. I love you.

Rolled up like a cinnamon roll. Snipped into connected pieces. Shaped like a crooked horseshoe.

Juicy and a little messy. Whatevs.

Even if just a little messy, this cake bakes up like a dream come true.

This spiced, sweet, breakfast cake is a soft and tender play on traditional coffee cake. It’s a bit more time consuming, but it’s pretty simple to roll up two cake rolls, place one on a parchment lined baking sheet to bake, and place the other in the freezer for a breakfast emergency.

This cake screams Autumn comfort. Screams it! Happy screams. From the rooftop!

Oh!

Other yeasty items I want you to be obsessed with:

Lemon Raspberry Breakfast Rolls

Cinnamon-Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Strawberry Balsamic Flatbread

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

makes two loaves

Print this Recipe!

For the Dough:

2 1/4 teaspoon (1 package) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water, about 105 to 155 degrees F.

big pinch of sugar

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup warm whole milk, 105 to 115 degrees F.

For the Filling:

3 large apples, peeled and cut into small cubes (I used Fuji apples)

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

For the Streusel:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

pinch of cardamom

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg and sugar for brushing and topping the dough before baking

To Make the Dough: In a small bowl, mix together yeast, warm water and pinch of sugar. Stir together until yeast is dissolved and set aside for 10 minutes. Yeast will foam up. That’s how you know it’s alive!

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the sugar, butter, cardamom, and salt. Blend on medium speed until pale in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl, and add eggs and 1 cup of flour. Blend on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated and creamy, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and add 2 cups more cups of flour, foamy yeast mixture, and warm milk. Blend in medium speed until the flour disappears. Mixture will be very wet.

Add 1 1/2 to 2 more cups of flour. Blend until the flour is almost incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes by hand. Dough will be glossy and just slightly sticky. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rest in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

While the dough rises, make the apple filling and the streusel.

To make the Apple Filling, toss together diced apples, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch, nutmeg and salt. Leave at room temperature and set aside until ready to use.

To make the Streusel Filling:

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cardamom. Add butter and, using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Break up the butter into the mixture, until thoroughly incorporated and crumbly. Set aside.

Continue on with the Dough:

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

When the dough has doubled in size, dump it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a large knife or a bench knife to divide the dough in two. Roll each dough piece into about a 10×14-inch rectangle. Sprinkle with half of the streusel mixture. Add half of the apple mixture over the apples. Add a bit of the apple juices too. That’s fine.

Starting from the longest side, begin to roll the dough. This isn’t like a cinnamon roll, you don’t have to roll it into a super tight swirl. Fold in about 1 1/2 to 1-inch folds. Keep the seam on the bottom.

Repeat the same steps for the second piece of dough.

Carefully lift roll onto the prepared baking sheet. **Now is a great time to freeze or refrigerate the coffee cake dough for later baking.** Take a pair of clean scissors and slice into the dough leaving about 3/4-inch of dough still attached. Slice at 1-inch intervals. Carefully begin to curve the sliced dough into a semi-circle/horseshoe shape. If some of the apple juices escape, that’s ok Cover with a towel and let rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush dough with egg wash and sprinkle with raw or granulated sugar. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. Best served warm with hot coffee. Coffee cake will last, well wrapped at room temperature, for up to 3 days… or 3 hours.

** If you decide to freeze the dough, place it in the fridge to thaw the evening before you’d like to bake it. Once it’s thawed, slice it according to the above directions. Allow to come to room temperature, and allow to rise for another 30 minutes beyond that. Wash with egg and sugar, then bake.

** If you decide to refrigerate the dough, simple take it out of the fridge, slice according to the above directions. Let come to room temperature, then allow to rise for 30 minutes beyond that. Brush with egg and sugar, then bake.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

joythebaker — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:49:06 +0000

Strawberries make me restless.

It’s a fact. Yes, a strange fact, but no less true.

See, in my part of the world, strawberries come along every year right around May. This is around the time when I’ve loooooong ago let slide any New Year’s resolutions I might have made for myself, when it’s possible that I’ve slacked a bit on my workout routine, and the goal of reading a chapter of a book a night before I fall asleep has somehow transferred into watching an old episode of House every night before I pass out.

Don’t even get me started on the mania that I try to pass off as my closet. It’s not pretty.

So…. strawberries come along at a time of year when I’ve cemented in some slightly lazy and ooooooh so comfortable habits for myself.

I don’t know how or why this works, but strawberries inspire me to shake my world up a bit, maybe introduce something new, maybe hop on one leg every morning just for the hell of it…. whatever. This is the time of year when I change things up a bit.

This year, strawberries have inspired me to do two things: learn Italian and combine fresh strawberries with one of my favorite cakes of all time…. streusel topped coffee cake.

Let’s do this.

Now seems like a good time to admit that you could put streusel topping on just about anything and I’d devour it with few regrets. Please don’t let that take away from how crazy awesome this strawberry coffee cake is. Moist sour cream coffee cake is mixed with cooked down fresh strawberries and topped with streusel topping. It’s both lovely ad humble, and just the perfect little cake to sit with in front of my computer as I work my way through Italian flash cards.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

inspired by Panache at Rose Hill

Print this Recipe!

1 heaping cup sliced strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons water

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few drops of almond extract (optional)

Topping:

3 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the topping:

Combine all the topping ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly. Set aside.

To make the strawberry mixture:

Combine strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar, water and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened and strawberries are soft and somewhat broken down. Set aside to cool.

Grease and flour a 10×10-inch baking dish, knocking out excess flour, and set aside.

To make the coffee cake:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and almond extract if you’re using it.

Sift dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter in 3 parts alternating with the sour cream in 2 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until combined.

Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread the cooled strawberry mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter onto the strawberries and spread evenly. Top with streusel topping and bake in the upper third of the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Any Way Coffee Cake

joythebaker — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:04:21 +0000

Remember a few days ago when we were talking about husband hugs?

Here’s the deal with me and husband hugs: I’m more than willing to wait for them. Sure, I can come with a serious case of the ‘wants’, but I’m usually able to talk myself into a bit of patience.

Your comments to my last post about hugs and husbands totally touched my heart. They helped me realize why husband hugs are so great, because they come from a place of deep love and comfort. That doesn’t just happen overnight. That’s the serious stuff- the stuff that comes with time, patience, understanding, commitment, love… you know, all the good stuff. I say all of this to say: I’m content. Not to worry. I’m more than willing to chillax on the husband hug front until it’s right and proper.

I’m flexible. I’m sweet. I’m happy: just like this coffee cake.

Coffee Cake Any Way

Print this Recipe!

This recipe comes from one of my favorite soul food cookbooks, Sweets. I like this cookbook because it lacks all pretension. The cake comes together with yellow boxed cake mix. Yea… cake mix. It’s sweetly familiar. This cake is also unflinchingly flexible. I threw in walnuts and dark chocolate chips, although you might want to try any of these combinations in your cinnamon swirl.

Dried Cranberries and White Chocolate Chips

Toasted Pecans and Sweetened Shredded Coconut

Walnuts and Pecans

Dried Apricots and Dried Cherries

and now… the recipe:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 (18.5 ounce ) box yellow cake mix

1 (6 ounce) package vanilla Jell-O pudding

1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

3/4 cup hot water

4 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon butter extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Brown Sugar Icing

1/3 cup light packed brown sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup whole milk

splash of whiskey (optional)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and lightly flour a 9 by 13-inch pan. Set aside.

To make the cake, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts (if using) in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Set the bowl aside. Measure out the chocolate chips (if using) and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream and hot water. Mix well. Your mixture will be thick. Beat in the eggs, vegetable oil and extracts until very few lumps remain.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle all of the brown sugar mixture over the cake batter. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips, or whatever topping you’ve chosen. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the brown-sugar and chocolate chip mixture. With a butter knife, spread and swirl the cake batter and brown sugar mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake form the oven and cool slightly.

To make the icing, combine the sugar and the flour in a bowl. Set the bowl aside. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a medium-sized, heavy saucepan. Whisk the flour and sugar mixture into the melted butter until the mixture becomes moistened. The mixture will appear to separate from the butter. Decrease the heat to low and keep stirring, it will come together after about 2 minutes, becoming slightly stringy.

Stir in the milk. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the mixture becomes thick and smooth, stirring frequently. It will look like gravy. Remove from heat. Add the splash of whiskey and vanilla extract. Let cool to lukewarm and drizzle over warm coffee cake.

This cake stays moist for days. Enjoy!

Cranberry Coffee Cake

joythebaker — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:00:47 +0000

I feel like I’ve been haunted by the three bags of fresh cranberries I bought about a month ago.

You’d think I’ve baked enough cranberry filled goodies to make these cranberries a thing of the past. Nope. Between the Banana Cranberry Bread, the All Purpose Cranberry Apple Cake and the Cranberry Sauce, how did I still have a lone back of cranberries dancing around in my fridge?

I’m happy to say, that with this deliciously moist and golden Cranberry Coffee Cake, my days of withering cranberries in the fridge are over. But… um… I kinda miss them. I’m thinking numerous Prosecco and Cranberry Cocktails are in my future, which means… more fresh cranberries! I hope you’re not sick of cranberry recipes yet. It ain’t over, this baker would really like a cocktail.

The thing about this coffee cake. The thing that makes it over the top, crazy delicious is the crunchy streusel topping. And I’ve got tricks. I take a few handfuls of the streusel topping and swirl it into the coffee cake batter. Yea! Awesome! Delicious! I take the rest of the topping, which is seriously ample and layer it on top before baking. The coffee cake bakes up a delicious golden color, the streusel topping is perfectly crunchy, and the cranberries add the perfect bright tartness. For reals.

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Print this Recipe!

bake in a 9 x 13-inch pan

Cake:

4 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sour cream mixed with 2 Tablespoons of milk

4 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped

Topping:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, well-softened
2/3 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
1/3 cup quick oats

Put a rack in middle oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9×13-inch pan and set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Combine butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in almond extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and sour cream mixture in alternate batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and mixing until just incorporated. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into baking dish and spread evenly.

For the topping, place the flour, brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon and oats in a large bowl and stir well with a wooden spoon. Work the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until evenly distributed. Take two full handful of the topping and spread it over the cake batter. Use a knife to swirl the topping into the batter. Spread the rest of the topping evenly over the cranberry cake batter.

Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Serve in big warm slices with a cup of creamy coffee.