Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

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.

I made both these versions for the challenge. I have shown the pictures of Ria's version as I thought the Indian spices were so unique. I definatly will be making this again!!

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

Ria’s version: 1 cup (130 g / 5 oz.) chopped cashew nuts 2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar ½ teaspoon garam masala (You can make it at home – recipe below - or buy from any Asian/Indian grocery store) 1 cup (170g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips ( I used Ghirardelli) Egg wash: 1 beaten egg Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes **Garam (means “hot”) masala (means “mixture”) is a blend of ground spices and is used in most Indian savory dishes. It is used in limited quantities while cooking vegetables, meats & eggs. There is no “one” recipe for it as every household has a recipe of their own. Below, I am going to share the recipe which I follow. 4 or 5 sticks (25 g) Cinnamon Sticks (break a stick and open the scroll) 3 ½ tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cloves, whole 100 g. (3.5 oz.) Fennel seeds 4 tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cumin seeds 1 ½ tablespoons (10 g / less than half an ounce) Peppercorns 25 g (less than half an ounce) Green Cardamom pods In a small pan on medium heat, roast each spice individually (it hardly takes a minute) until you get a nice aroma. Make sure you stir it throughout so that it doesn’t burn. As soon as each spice is roasted, transfer it to a bowl to cool slightly. Once they are all roasted, grind into a fine powder by using a coffee grinder, or pestle & mortar. Store in an airtight container and use as needed. I made the splurge and purchased saffron and the spices. I mixed the dry together then added the wet and let it proof. Once the dough had proofed I rolled it out. I whipped up the egg whites and spread it over the dough and added the spices, nuts and chocolate.

I rolled the dough up and formed it into a circle and cut slits into the dough. I allowed it to proof and then I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes. I sprinkled powdered sugar over the whole coffee cake once it was out of the oven.

Both versions of the coffee cake looked the same uncut but once cut into the version on the white plate is Ria's and the other cut is Jamie's version. Both were excellent. Thank you for such a fun challenge!!