Sunday, August 21, 2011

CAKE SLICE BAKERS



After a long absence, and with apologies to my fellow Cake Slice Bakers, I am back for the penultimate cake from Lauren Chattman's "Cake Keeper Cakes",  this month the bakers voted for her Hungarian Coffee Cake (aka Monkey Bread) - a coffee free cake (I'm always caught!!) rich in cinnamon (well my version was anyway!) and fun to make.

I was excited to bake my first "Monkey Bread", but found this cake to taste much more like scones coated in a buttery, sweet cinnamon glaze - delicious, but not what I had expected, and not really pull-apartable!

We really enjoyed this cake on the day it was made, but it doesn't  belong in a book with "keeper" in the title as on the second day (like scones) the cake had dried out and lost it's lovely soft texture - nice but not nearly as nice as on day one.  This cake would be perfect for a coffee morning with a gang of friends - just make sure you invite enough to eat it all in one go!!!!



The recipe as I made it:

Hungarian Coffee Free Coffee Cake

Topping

1/2 cup (110g)    butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup                light brown sugar

Cake

1/2 cup               granulated sugar
3  tsp                  ground cinnamon
9 tbsp (117g)     chilled butter - actually frozen is best.
3 cups                plain flour
1 tbsp                caster sugar
1 tbsp                 baking powder
3/4 tsp                bread (bicarbonate of) soda
3/4 tsp                salt
1 cup                  buttermilk (maybe more)
1/4 cup               pecan nuts

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F
Butter and flour a non-stick bundt cake tin

Whisk the melted butter together with the light brown sugar and put to one side.
Combine the granulated sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon in a plastic bag.
Grate the frozen butter with a coarse grater.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt,2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp caster sugar in a large bowl.
Add the grated butter and combine with a spoon.
Stir in the buttermilk, adding more if necessary to combine.
Scoop up small balls of dough (slightly smaller than a golf ball) and toss in the sugar cinnamon mixture.
Layer the balls of dough in the bundt tin, scattering in the chopped pecan nuts as you go.
When all the balls of sugared dough are in the tin, pour the cooled butter and sugar mixture over them.
Bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until firm to the touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin on a cake rack for 10 - 15 minutes.
Invert onto a serving plate and serve at once.

Enjoy.




23 comments:

Karen S Booth said...

I have never made monkey bread, but I MUST try it now, yours looks fabulous! What a treat!
Karen

Please Do Not Feed The Animals. said...

It looks good. My one seemed to keep okay. We were enjoying it on Day 3. I do need to invite more people round for cake, though, as I'm a bit fatter than I should be. Food blogging is so bad for the waistline.

Caroline said...

It looks great - I love the idea of all the little balls forming together into one delicious whole. I hadn't really heard of monkey bread being made with a scone type dough, I have only seen yeasted versions. This looks much quicker!

Chele said...

I really like the way this cake is constructed, seems like so much fun ... and then you get to eat it too ;0)

cupcakegirl said...

looks delicious, and cake never lasts long in my house so the keeping of it isn't an issue haha

Anonymous said...

Hey BVG - I grew up in the Midwest and Monkey Bread there is made with canned biscuits that you cut into pieces and then roll into cinnamon and sugar. It's just like yours but the canned biscuits (does Ireland have canned biscuits?) make it fast, easy and, definitely semi-homemade. I'm attaching a link to a similar recipe: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/grands-monkey-bread/7a1e41b1-4708-4028-8ce6-fcb5baebbc19/

MissCakeBaker said...

It looks really good! Cakes never last longer than a day in my house!!

Anonymous said...

There is nothing better than cinnamon for breakfast :) I think of monkey bread as the pull apart bread with biscuits too...but this would make me happy in the morning regardless of what it was called.

Coby said...

Too much cinnamon is never enough;) Could you cut it into slices and toast it or warm it in the oven to help bring it back to life? I only ask as these are two options that can help breath life into aged scones:) Never made nor eaten Monkey Bread but the name is such fun:) Oh, and for me, a 'coffee cake' sans coffee, while still a weird idea, is the only 'coffee' thing I'd eat;)

♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ said...

U know mine baked to pull apart as well as slicable :-)))
And Cinnamon , oh i added lods of it :-)
And ur Coffee cake looks soo pretty!

Rose H (UK) said...

Just the name 'monkey bread' makes me laugh! Like the idea of this one though. I'm thinking of holding a 'coffee morning' to raise funds for a local charity - this recipe looks ideal.
Thanks :o)

Choclette said...

Yum, yum. I've not seen this version of monkey bread before - not that I'm any kind of expert. It sounds delicious, especially with all that cinnamon butter. But isn't it a shame scones don't keep better - on the other hand, it's a great excuse to pig out ;-)

My Farmhouse Kitchen said...

oh...this looks wonderful...

happy to see you today, my friend

i have missed you

kary and teddy
xx

girls who like to gorge said...

WOW, this sounds great.. I don't have one of those round cake tins yet.. but I really want to get one. xxx

teresa said...

oh i'd love to get my hands on this!

The Caked Crusader said...

I agree it looks more like scones than monkey bread but who cares once they set sight on the rich vein of sugary cinnamon running through it? Not me!

Alchemy In The Kitchen said...

Good idea to invite loads of friends round when you make something like this monkey-scone-bread.

p.s. I roared laughing when I read the comment you'd left about your nephew wanting to know what animal corn had been :) Sooooo cute!

Anonymous said...

this looks delicious! any chance you deliver?:)

Allison said...

I never heard monkey bread referred to as Hungarian coffee cake. My Hungarian family never made a breakfast treat that looked this good.

OvenDelights said...

I ended up remaking this cake this past weekend, I loved it! I added 1/2 c. more of the buttermilk, and it turned out more like a cake texture than a biscuit. This cake didn't last all day on the counter, we devoured it!

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

I looks so good that it's a shame it doesn't taste as good the next day! If I ever have to feed a crowd in one day, I'll certainly keep it in mind though.

Rita said...

What a perfect cake; saving this recipe for my children's visit. I know it will be a hit.
Rita

Kim Bee said...

New follower. Glad I found you. You have some amazing recipes here. This is really a great one. I've not made it myself but this makes me want to try.