A healthier option

I don't think most bakers are excited at the prospect of a "healthier choice" when it comes to coffee cakes, but it's good to have a couple of options in case there are any calorie counters in your circle of friends. There is still sugar in this Apple Oatmeal coffee cake, but no butter for a change. Flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, allspice, cinnamon, oats, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla {see what I mean about these types of cakes having so many ingredients?}, and of course, peeled & chopped apples are mixed and poured into a pan and baked for 350 degrees for one hour. The glaze is a combination of icing sugar, water & cider.

A German favourite

Plum kuchen is one of those dense European-type cakes. Butter & sugar are creamed, egg, vanilla & almond extract are added, then flour, baking powder & salt. The batter is piped into the pan and topped with fresh plums. Before being baked for 40 minutes at 350 degrees, a mixture of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar is sprinkled over the plums. Once cooled, apricot glaze is brushed on for a nice, shiny look.

Cinnamon & ginger {+ caramel icing!}

This was a really good one. The usual suspects: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda. Plus: corn syrup, ginger, cinnamon and hot water. Baked for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

The caramel icing was interesting: butter and sugar are heated in a saucepan, then milk and vanilla are added and brought to a boil. The mixture is removed from the heat and icing sugar is gradually added in. After being drizzled on the cake, cinnamon sugar is sprinkled on.

More pumpkin

I swear there are so many ingredients in this Pumpkin Date Coffee Cake, it would take forever to list them. The gist is that the dry ingredients {which include flour, sugar, nutmeg, allspice, cloves & cinnamon} are combined with the wet {eggs, pumpkin pulp, milk, melted butter}, then chopped pecans and dates are stirred in. Baking time is an hour at 375 degrees. This was one of those "I don't like pumpkin either, but THIS will be a good cake." It was okay but, you know, it tasted like pumpkin. The spice glaze was amazing: icing sugar, unsalted butter, milk, cinnamon & allspice. Yum!

Hold the frosting

I'd leave the fudge frosting off this next time; you can barely taste the Chocolate Orange Marble Cake underneath! An easy one: Butter, sugar, vanilla is creamed, eggs are added, then flour, baking powder and milk. The batter is then split into two and melted chocolate is added into one bowl, orange zest in the other. The two batters are dropped into the pan in an alternating pattern, then the end of a wooden spoon is swirled through it to create a marbled effect. Baking time is 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Panettone!

Fun word. I think because I've been so busy eating the Polish version of this {babka} my whole life, I've never paid attention to the thousands of panettones on store shelves during the holidays. This Italian sweet bread includes only a handful of ingredients but the trick in the preparation. Yeast, warm milk {not too hot!} are combined to form a slurry and bread flour is added to create the sponge, which helps the bread rise. This is left to rest for about 20 minutes.

The sponge is then combined with sugar, eggs, salt and bread flour in a mixer for a minute. Butter is added and the dough is mixed for 4 more minutes, THEN raisins and candied peel are added and everything is mixed for 2 more minutes. We also added marsala {fortified wine}, creme ovo {cream of egg} and citrus essence, so it was the real deal. The dough is rounded up and left to rest for 20 minutes, then split into smaller pieces, eggwashed and proofed for 45 minutes {at home, it can be left under a thin blanket for 1.5 to 2 hours}. Baking time is 45 minutes at 350 degrees. It took just as long to make as it sounds, but was totally worth it.

Cookie coffee cake

This Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake had a dense, almost cookie-like texture. The batter included the basics: flour, sugar, butter, sour cream, eggs, baking powder & soda. It was then piped into the pan {a bit messy! a tough one to work with} and the filling {cream cheese, sugar & eggs, raspberry jam, sliced almonds, cinnamon sugar} was spread in the center and baked for an hour at 350 degrees.

The ultimate coffee cake

Loved this! This Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake was the basic recipe for all coffee cakes; the chocolate chips can be substituted with anything.

As with the other coffee cakes I've made so far, super-easy to make and no secret ingredients {butter, eggs, sugar, sour cream milk...}. Cinnamon sugar was layered in, which I thought was unusual for a chocolate coffee cake. Baking time was typical too: almost an hour at 350 degrees.

Worth the wait

Today was my first Coffee Cakes class. Too many ingredients to count in this, as well as all the others I'll be making, according to my recipe book. But the good news is: I love coffee cake! Love it. It's somewhere between breakfast bread and dessert. Sour Cream Coffee Cake contains a brown sugar, pecan & cinnamon filling and is super-moist. Baking time will most likely always be about an hour for the cakes in this class, but totally worth the wait. The glaze {brown sugar, icing sugar, butter, vanilla & milk} is poured over the cake once cooled. The visual doesn't really do justice to the taste.