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.
22 comments:
I have never made monkey bread, but I MUST try it now, yours looks fabulous! What a treat!
Karen
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.
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!
I really like the way this cake is constructed, seems like so much fun ... and then you get to eat it too ;0)
looks delicious, and cake never lasts long in my house so the keeping of it isn't an issue haha
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/
It looks really good! Cakes never last longer than a day in my house!!
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.
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;)
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!
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)
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 ;-)
oh...this looks wonderful...
happy to see you today, my friend
i have missed you
kary and teddy
xx
WOW, this sounds great.. I don't have one of those round cake tins yet.. but I really want to get one. xxx
oh i'd love to get my hands on this!
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!
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!
this looks delicious! any chance you deliver?:)
I never heard monkey bread referred to as Hungarian coffee cake. My Hungarian family never made a breakfast treat that looked this good.
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.
What a perfect cake; saving this recipe for my children's visit. I know it will be a hit.
Rita
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.
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