Whew, thank goodness Bacon Week is done! @.@ This weeks’ posting will be a bit lighter because my pets are angry with me, my apartment is a wreck, and gosh-darnit, I want a bit of a baking break. QQ, I know.
But I still have obligations to fill! That’s right, it’s the time of the month again: time for a Daring Baker challenge!
*drools everywhere*
This month’s challenge was hosted by Jaimie of Life’s a Feast and Ria of Ria’s Collection, who directed the masses on how to make a yeasted meringue coffee cake. It was a nice basic challenge that I really enjoyed; as they both pointed out, people tend to be a little afraid of yeast baking (self-included) and this is a wonderful recipe that’s easy to follow and delicious to eat.
Dutifully, I put the challenge off until the day before it was due (*glares at Bacon Week*), so ended up makings things up a bit at the last moment.
When it came down to flavors, I knew I wanted to try two different ones since the recipe we were given yielded 2 loaves. Being a bit of a savory-girl, I decided ahead of time that one would be sweet and the other would be savory, and on the tail of Bacon Week, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to burn some leftover bacon. When it came down to the morning of the actual baking (I made the dough ahead of time, as I wanted it nice and warm for a brunchy snack), I kind of made it up as I went along. And aside from my loaves being oddly shaped and a bit lumpy, they both turned out quite well.
Double-Chocolate-Toffee-Cinnamon
The sweet loaf was good, though I think it’s tough to go wrong with chocolate chips and cinnamon. I didn’t include any additional sugar though, so I thought the slices were appropriately sweet without being cavity-inducing.
But the savory loaf? Be still my heart – it was fantastic.
Extreme Closeup!
I’m not sure if it’s the fancy Killaree Cheddar I used from Whole Foods or if it was the fresh chives (I’ve never baked with chives before, so had no idea how they’d end up tasting), but the loaf was perfect. It was soft and yeasty with incredibly flavorful cheese and chives, plus and underlying bacony chew. The meringue added a subtle hint of sweet that I feel really pulled the loaf together. I was very impressed and would hands-down recommend this combination of flavors for their next coffee cake.
Emily was over with me that morning and shared the cakes and coffee from me; I believe she gave it all a hearty thumbs up. In fact I sent most of the remaining cakes home for her and her boyfriend. Hooray for having friends on which to pawn off goodies. 😀
Go forth now, and make some tasty coffee cakes!
Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake with Sweet Kitchen Sink & Savory Breakfast Fillings
The recipe for the cake dough itself can be found here. (I truly don’t feel like typing out the entire recipe). Below are the ingredients I used for the two fillings.
Sweet Kitchen Sink Filling
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup toffee bits
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Savory Breakfast Filling
- 3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used fancy Killaree Cheddar)
- 5 strips bacon, cooked to your preference
- 1/4 cup chives
Mary Gezo
Formerly of both n00bcakes and !Blog, the two magically become one on Spatialdrift; expect some lazy baking and serious nerditude. Also, I love semicolons.
I think you may be my new best friend! I caught a glimpse of your savory breakfast cake in the Daring Bakers forum and immediately ran to get paper towels to clean the drool off my keyboard. I know what I am making for breakfast this weekend!
I am tempted to show the savory one to my roommate…she would surely force me to make it for her! Both look and sound amazing, but I can imagine how the bacony one really stole the show. See this? You’re making me crave bacon again. tsk! Great job on the challenge!
Oh. My. Gosh. Bacon cheese and chives? I think you are my new hero. That looks AMAZING and SO delicious. I am absolutely going to try that. Wow. The sweet one looks fantastic as well, but WOW. AWESOME job on the challenge.
How perfect is that savoury version the crumb of the bread is stunning and the way the filling is distributed in the cake is so colourful and delicious looking. I love to bake with chives the easiest way to add a subtle onion/garlic flavour and the green colour of it is always a bonus.
And the double chocolate and toffee is to die for stunning flavour profile.
Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
What a nice breakfast cake! It looks fantastic, and I want to make it for my birthday party! 🙂
Great job on the chalenge!
Wow that’s a beautiful savory meringue cake! Love the filling you used and the final product looks perfect! Great job on this challenge!
@cwupcake – So glad you also find it drool-worthy! And I agree; you should definitely try it out this weekend; the cake truly was to die for!
@Jessica – You should try it without the bacon! I’m pretty sure it was the special cheese, meringue, and chives that made the loaf the best. You can still eat that, right? 🙂
@Shelley – Imagine me with a bacon-cape on. I’m THAT kind of hero. 😀 Glad you like the loaf!
@Audax – Great to see you back here! And I was pretty impressed with how easy to yeast-baking ended up being; despite being lumpy the crumb really was pretty. Glad you approve of the flavors too!
@Patri – Go forth and make the delicious cake, I highly recommend it! ^_^
I really like your idea of the savory breakfast cake. I need to put that on my list to try!
Ahhh *guilt* I still haven’t put up my daring baker’s post for this yet
I wish I had made a savory version! Yours looks delicious
@Suzy – That savory cake was wicked good…let me know if you make it! 😀
@Stephanie – Put it up! Love seeing peoples’ DB results. ^_^ And yes…savory was sooo gooood. @.@
That simply looks perfect! Just delicious and beautiful!