Daring to do it: Yeasted 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.

This challenge was posted at the perfect time. I was in Florida visiting my family and was in the mood to make something special for dessert. I saw this recipe and was immediately drawn to it. I printed it up and showed it to my mother. She was intrigued, too. We made it on the first day. We then made it a second time before returning to PA. I then made it two more times, making a total of five different flavors for this one recipe! I don't think I have ever been drawn to a challenge recipe in this way. Sure, there are others that I have made a couple of times, and there are a few more which I plan to make again. But I made this one four times, with five different flavors...! All during the course of the challenge month! And I can't wait to make it again! I honestly think that the reason this is such a great recipe is that it is one which was found in a family collection. Jamie found it when going through her father's things - undated, uncredited... but SO good!
Having made bread before, I was not intimidated by the yeast dough. I was a little curious at the hosts' description of the dough as being "soft, smooth, sexy and elastic." Sexy? Bread dough? As odd as the word choice might have seemed, it was dead on. This dough was so smooth, so sexy, I loved working with it. Clearly!!
For the explanation of this recipe/the fun picture part, I'll show you the dough process from the first time, then I will just show you the variations I did, along with any changed I may have made. I was super thrilled with how easy it was to play with this recipe - different flours, varying amounts of sugar, different types of milks... All versions led to amazing cakes!
The dough starts with warmed milk and butter. For this first version I used rice milk and margarine. (That way the resulting cakes would be parve.)

Once risen, the dough is divided into two parts to make two different loaves. For this first time through I made a cinnamon and chocolate version. The dough is rolled out, then meringue is spread over it. I then sprinkled cinnamon-sugar over the meringue, then chocolate chips were generously added and the soon-to-be loaves were rolled up jelly roll style. The recipe calls for the rolled up dough to be formed into a wreath (like in the stollen challenge from a few months ago), which I did with one of the sections. For the other, though, I folded it into a loaf pan so it would be more like a babka. (If you don't know what a babka is, it is a yeasted and twisted filled cake. Love it!) The cakes rise again, and are then painted with egg wash and baked.

They came out of the over beautifully. We cut into the babka loaf that night, and were rewarded with an amazingly soft, light and chocolaty cake that was almost impossible to resist! I knew right then that I would be making this recipe again...
I just didn't know how many times!

And now for the variations:

I made a strawberries and meringue wreath with part whole wheat flour:

I made a savory spinach and cheese braid, mixing ricotta cheese in with the meringue, and filling with sauteed spinach, onion and garlic, and sprinkling with shredded cheese:
I made a chocolate peanut butter loaf version, using this recipe for peanut butter meringue and plenty of chocolate chips:
And I made a lemon meringue wreath version, adding lemon zest to the meringue and filling the cake with lemon curd:Thank you so much Jamie and Ria for hosting such an amazing challenge. And thank you, Jamie for sharing this recipe, which could have been a family secret, but you let us in. This has truly been one of the best challenges in in the year since I became a member.

I highly recommend that you look here to see the amazing creations made by my fellow Daring Bakers. But be sure you have a napkin ready to wipe up the drool!!