Daring Bakers: 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.

I was excited about this month’s challenge because it somewhat reminded me about December’s Christmas stollen which I loved.  My fellow Daring Bakers never disappoint when it comes to creative twists on the challenges so I gave the fillings I was going to use much thought.  I decided to do one with guava and cream cheese and the other with almonds, cinnamon and brown sugar.  I ran into some problems with my guava and cream cheese coffee cake as I was a little heavy handed with the meringue.  Once I rolled my dough the filling started to come out therefore making it quite messy and difficult to seal the edges.  I kept my fingers crossed in hopes that it would not totally fall apart in the oven.  I had some leakage but overall it retained its shape and most importantly was absolutely delicious!  I used the guava paste cut up into little cubes which in retrospect I definitely should have gone with the guava preserves.  I hate when that happens….always go with your gut instinct!  For the cream cheese filling I let it come to room temperature and then beat it together with some lemon juice, milk and a little sugar.  It reminded me of the wonderful Cuban pastries we get here in south Florida….DELICIOUS!

The almond, brown sugar and cinnamon one was also yummy but the guava and cream cheese was clearly the winner for me and amongst my co-workers.  As far as the meringue quite honestly I couldn’t even tell it was there…in either coffee cake.  Many of my fellow bakers described it as adding a noughat texture or chewy feel to it but not for me.  I am guessing it helped to keep the dough from being dry but that’s about it.  Regardless this recipe is a winner!

I know my fellow bakers did incredible things with this challenge so check them out here.  The challenge recipe can be viewed and printed here.