Copious coffee cakes
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
What a great weekend July 18 at the Farmers Market! In addition to the wonderful, locally produced food, there was a ton of stuff to do with ESB Financial, the Learning Connection and a live remote from KVOE. I love to watch the watermelon rolling contest!
Of course, the most important part of it all for me was the competition for coffee cakes. There were six entries, and not a loser in the bunch. I really want to thank Tracey Graham, Amy Jordan and Jessie Stalling for lending a helping hand!
Since everyone voted by an assigned number, here is who brought which one:
1. Macademia toffee coffee streusel, Blake Eyman
2. Cinnamon-pecan coffee cake, Margie Combes
3. Cinnamon coffee cake, Carol Bridges
4. Cranberry and almond coffee cake, Christy Freeman
5. Sweet yummy coffee cake, Darleena Sexton
6. Blueberry poppy seed coffee cake, Judy Conway
What makes a coffee cake a coffee cake? Generally, the dough is more like a bread, and fillings tend to be fruit or nuts. Some famous coffee cakes are the Danish, the Streusel and the King Cake, which is served during carnival. It’s interesting that the German word “streusel”, which means “granules”, can be thought of as “to strew crumbs” across the cake (STREW-sul, get it?). To be completely accurate, streusel refers to the topping on the cake, not the whole pastry.
According to Rob Carlson, an essayist who is devoted to all things “coffee”, the custom of eating some sweet yeast bread while drinking one's coffee probably began in the 17th century in Europe. Dutch, Scandinavian, French and German immigrants all brought a breakfast bread recipe of some sort when they came to North America. All these recipes used flour, eggs, yeast, sugar, nuts, spices and dried fruit. Over the years, people experimented and began adding creamy fillings, cheese, yogurt and sugared fruit. Yum!
Blake Eyman got up before dawn to bake his cake, and it was delicious. The vanilla chips along with the chopped macadamia nuts made this one very special, and the winner — by one vote!
BLAKE’S MACADAMIA TOFFEE COFFEE
STREUSEL
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter, cold
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup vanilla or white chips
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/3 cup flaked coconut
In a large bowl, combine the flour and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside one cup of this for a topping. Add baking powder and salt, mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Stir into crumb mixture until moistened. Transfer to a greased 13-x-9-inch baking pan and sprinkle the set-aside crumb mixture as a topping, followed by the chips, nuts and coconut.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and the edges pull away from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting. Serves 20 people.
Christy Freeman brought a lovely coffee cake baked in a Bundt pan. There were decorative almond slices on the top of the glaze; the flavor was aromatic and delicate thanks to the use of almond extract. Christy says if you prefer to use pecans or walnuts, switch to vanilla extract for a milder cake.
CHRISTY’S CRANBERRY & ALMOND COFFEE CAKE
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 (16 oz.) can whole berry
cranberry sauce
Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp. warm water
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Beat in almond extract. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream beating well after each addition.
Spoon a third of batter into greased, floured 12-cup tube pan. Crumble one third of cranberry sauce over batter. Repeat two layers, two more times, ending with cranberry sauce. Sprinkle nuts over top. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until cake tests done.
Cool in pan for five minutes. Remove. Cool on wire rack. Whisk together glaze ingredients and glaze cake, sprinkling sliced almonds on top as desired.
Judy Conway won the Pie Cook Off, and she missed winning this one by one vote. It sure helps to have your own blueberry bushes!
JUDY’S BLUEBERRY POPPY SEED COFFEE CAKE
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter,
softened
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream
Filling:
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries,
thawed and drained on paper
towels.
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 - 2 tsp. milk
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bottom and sides of a 9- to 10-inch spring form pan. In a large bowl, beat 2/3 cup sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add lemon peel and egg; beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
In medium bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, poppy seeds, baking soda and salt. Add this to butter mixture alternately with the sour cream. Spread batter over bottom and up the sides of the pan one inch, making sure batter is at least 1/4 inch thick.
In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling. Spoon over the batter and bake 45 to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Cool slightly and remove from pan. In a small bowl, whisk powdered sugar and just enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm cake and serve warm or cooled.
Darleena Sexton got up at 4 a.m. to make sure her coffee cake would be fresh and hot. One taster exclaimed: “That’s just like the coffee cake my grandma used to make!” It was a crowd pleaser, nice and spicy.
DARLEENA’S SWEET YUMMY COFFEE CAKE
2 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 stick margarine, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
2 Butterfinger (or Heath) bars
Mix the flour, sugar and margarine together. Remove 1 cup of this to use as a topping. To the rest, beat in the egg, vanilla extract and salt, followed by the buttermilk and baking soda.
Pour batter into a greased 13-x-9-inch baking pan. Darleena uses nonstick spray. Sprinkle the one cup of crumb mixture over the batter. Chop up two Butterfinger candy bars and spread this over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes and enjoy!
Margie Combes is known around town for her baking skills. The Gazette has benefited from her Christmas boxes more than once! Her Bundt coffee cake had a lovely ring of finely chopped pecans around the top, and the mixture of cinnamon and other spices was perfect — just begging for a pot of coffee to go along with it.
MARGIE’S COFFEE CAKE
1 box yellow cake mix
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cups nuts, divided
2 tsp. cinnamon
Blend cake mix, oil and water. Add eggs one at a time. beat at high speed until mixed. Add butter and vanilla; mix. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon.
Grease Bundt pan and sprinkle 1/4 cup chopped nuts on bottom of pan. Layer the cake as follows: cinnamon sugar, batter, cinnamon sugar, 1/4 cups nuts, batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, Let stand 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan. Once cool, glaze the cake with a mixture of 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
I didn’t get a recipe for Carol Bridges’ cake, but it was like a cinnamon roll. She said it’s her kids’ favorite cake, and I could certainly taste why. Congratulations to all six cooks for a job well done!
The next cook off will be August 26. It’s the very popular salsa competition, so mark your calendar now! We’ll have one more in September: Things made with Apples.
Next week is a special column on another State Fair competition you can enter. We’re fast approaching August and the Emporia Beef Fest. What’s your favorite beef recipe? From grill rubs to stir fry, how do you like to cook your cow? Send that recipe to 517 Merchant or murphysmenu@yahoo.com. Let’s get cooking!