Meringue Filled Coffee Cake

I am a daring baker.  No really, I am.  I signed up to be one and this was the first monthly assignment I was able to participate in.   It's a part of The Daring Kitchen and you can be a "daring cook" or a "daring baker" or both.  I've been accepted as both, but I haven't taken part in a daring cook challenge yet.

Anyway....I'm so psyched that my first time doing a daring baker's challenge was this meringue filled coffee cake.  I really enjoy making meringue for some reason.  I think it started when I took over making Christmas cookies at my parents' house and we discovered that my brother was a meringue cookie monster.  I couldn't make enough of them for him!  At least they're easy.  But I'm totally off the topic here....

This coffee cake has yeast in it.  That fact scared the bejeezus out of me.  I've NEVER gotten yeast to rise correctly.  Ever!  And believe me I've tried.  So this was definitely a daring recipe for me.  I followed the recipe exactly and waited on tenterhooks as my dough slowly rose, and then kept rising.  It worked!

 

So I was obviously really excited and made the meringue and spread my fillings on top of it.  This recipe makes two coffee cakes and since B won't eat nuts but I love them, I decided that this was a dessert in which I could indulge my love of all things crunchy.  Hazelnuts and semisweet chocolate took up residence in the center of mine.  Semisweet chips, white chocolate chips and dried cherries filled the one that B would eat.  I personally think that mine ended up being more tasty, but they were both really yummy.

Then it came time to roll it all up, jelly roll style and then cut holes in it.

I thought that this part would be tricky, but except for a bit of the meringue sliding out, I had no problems with it at all.  I had to let it rise again, so I sat nervously waiting again, and again it rose.  No problems with yeast this time!

In the end, I was left with two beautiful and incredibly delicious coffee cakes, and I really hope B's coworkers enjoyed them.  It was just too much to eat all by ourselves!

 

Blog-checking lines: 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.

Recipe can be found HERE!

Print Page