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 my first Daring Bakers challenge ever! I’m super proud of it!

I don’t think I’ve ever made actual bread with yeast before, and it was completely successful! It’s a slightly dense but really soft bread filled with meringue, almonds, and chocolate. In one of my two breads I also added in fresh sliced bananas, which wasn’t part of the original recipe, but it was absolutely delicious.

Here’s how you do it!

Preparation time:
For the dough:
10 - 15 minutes preparation of the dough
8 – 10 minutes kneading
45 – 60 minutes first rise
10 – 15 minutes to prepare meringue, roll out, fill and shape dough
an additional 45 – 60 minutes for second rising.

Baking time: approximately 30 minutes

The recipe makes 2 round coffee cakes about 10 inches in diameter.

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.) 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 nuts (I used almonds)
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) sugar (I used brown sugar)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips/chopped chocolate
For one coffee cake, I also sliced up one fresh banana

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg

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 canola 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. I sprinkled on the nuts and 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 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 of choice 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.

The Verdict: I know it sounds pretty complicated, but it’s honestly not too hard. Plus it’s really, really good. So you should try it!

Maybe I should have baked something that didn’t involve chocolate and peanut butter for my second post, but man, I love it.

I was craving some peanut butter this afternoon, and although I’m an eat-it-from-the-spoon kind of person, it has been like a week since I baked anything, so I figured why not.

I couldn’t find any single recipe that included everything I wanted, so I improvised.

I wanted a really good chocolate cupcake that could stand on its own. I find a lot of times that recipes will produce a really dull flavored cupcake and then slather it in icing. Not a fan of that. These chocolate cupcakes by themselves are awesome. The recipe came from Chockylit.

So first I made the cake and poured the batter to fill 12 cups about halfway full.

Then I just dropped a miniature Reeses in each cupcake.

Then you can use a spoon (or in my case I used my finger…haha I mean I’m the one eating them. Who cares.) and spread the batter over the candy, so it looks like it did when you started basically.

Then stick ‘em in the oven and get started on the icing! Now, I considered actually making icing, which is easy enough, but I didn’t have any more powdered sugar, so I just mixed some peanut butter into some buttercream frosting I had. There really aren’t any exact measurements. Through some icing and peanut butter in a mixer and go for it. More icing than peanut butter, I will say.

Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool (if you can manage it). And then frost away. At first I frosted them all fancy so I could take a pretty picture. But honestly, this icing was way too rich for that, so I scraped it off and took a picture of it how I’d actually eat the cupcake. It REALLY doesn’t take much at all.

And the best part—Biting into the oh-so-wonderful Reeses cup inside.

Enjoy! (And absolutely have something nearby to drink)

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• Miniature Reeses cups

Preheat oven to 350F and grease & lightly flour cupcake cups

1. Beat butter until softened in a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer).
2. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. 
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
5. Mix milk and vanilla in a small bowl.
6. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Be sure to scrape down the bowl a few times.
7. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry. 
8. Scoop batter into greased and floured cupcake cups about 1/2 full.
9. Drop one Reeses into each cup and cover in batter.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-24 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Makes 12-14 cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Frosting: (Simple version)

Beat together buttercream frosting and peanut butter until fluffy.