27 March 2011

Daring Bakers - Meringue Filled Coffee Cake


banana - cashews - curried goat cheese - sweet  bread casing


Mets la main à la pâte! It’s time to roll up your sleeves and put your hands wrist deep in some smooth, silky dough and create something oh-so sweet! Jamie of Life’s a Feast and Ria of Ria’s Collection are thrilled to invite you to bake along with them this month!



This is the first Daring Baker challenge that I have been eligible to try ... whhoooooo! Should I be cringing in my shoes?  I'll admit it. I am!  I am not the queen of yeast doughs and this particular challenge involves a soft and pillow-like sweet yeast dough that is rolled and filled jellyroll fashion with  ... sky's the limit.



a graduated dough - whisk the dry, beat in the warm milk and butter - beat in the eggs and a bit more flour - mix in the rest of the flour - knead, knead, knead - rise

The yeast dough makes enough for two coffee cakes, so I opted to try two different rings - #1 with cherries/almonds/white chocolate drizzle and #2 with banana chips, salted cashews, and curried goat cheese. In both cases, I flavored the meringues ... Amaretto in the sweet take and curry/parsley in the savory take. The meringue bakes its way into the yeast layers and flavors the bread really well.

Both cakes were really good ... and the dough for the cakes was smooth and beautiful ... the dough recipe can be used for any number of coffee cakes ... write it down or download it. Just sayin'.

The following photos follow the construction of the banana/cashew/goat cheese coffee cake ... which turned into Sunday evening's dinner. The cherries and almond take will be breakfast for Monday ... but that's getting  ahead of things.



soft, elastic, and easy to handle


meringue flavored with parsley and curry - banana chips, cashews, and goat cheese



jelly roll  - ends tucked into each other to make a ring - snip, snip, second rise



a pretty coffee cake ring ready for second rise


A savory ring served with basic greens, olives, cheese board, and a bottle of  Sauvignon blanc






10 comments:

  1. The goat cheese one sounds AMAZING!!! What a beautiful job you did on your first DB challenge! :)

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  2. WOW! This looks like it came from a specialty bakery. Perfect shape and color. Now if only I knew what it tastes like.

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  3. Welcome and hello to the Daring Kitchen and congratulations or your first very successful challenge it looks p.e.r.f.e.c.t stunning work and yes the dough is so 'sexy'. The savoury version looks and sounds so delicious well done on this challenge.

    Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  4. I wouldn't say you were yeast bread challenged. That is gorgeous! Please let us know how the cherry and almond bread turned out! You are quite the Daring Baker!

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  5. Wonderful bread, looks really good for daring bakers... !

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  6. Love this idea; any kinds of breads make me very excited; great photos.
    Rita

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  7. I like your savoury one the best out of all i've seen... nice work my friend!

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  8. i think you're too hard on yourself, your challenged turned out great. Love the addition on goat cheese, brilliant idea.
    and for the sweet version, cherries soaked in kirsch, oh, you won my heart.

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  9. These look wonderful, but the savory one sounds especially amazing with the goat cheese, yum!! I would love to enjoy some of that with a glass of wine!

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