March 2011 Daring Baker's Challenge: Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake

Tada! My first Daring Baker's Challenge. I'd been seeing all my other favorite bloggers participate in the Daring Bakers and was super envious of their creations. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't join before, but I'm glad I finally did. The March 2011 Daring Baker's Challege 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. So, over Spring Break on the rainiest day in quite some time, I tried my hand at it.

The thing is, though, is that because it was so rainy, I had no desire to go out and buy ingredients. The lucky thing was that I had all of the ingredients for the recipe already at home. The recipe requires we make the sweet yeast dough and meringue and suggests using chocolate and walnuts. The problem was just that combination of pastry and chocolate, of which I am no fan. I know, I know. Everyone loves pain au chocolate and chocolate covered pretzels and these sorts of things, but I find the combination of anything bready and chocolately just meh. And a little blech. Still! I persevered because chocolate and nuts were all I had and was actually quite pleased with how it turned out.

I found the dough quite pleasant to work with. I enjoyed kneading it by hand while watching the rain and taking my mind off schoolwork for a bit. Kneading dough is pretty much one of my all time favorite things. The rhythm is hypnotic and the feeling of shaping something with my own hands is intoxicating.

After the dough has risen, it's rolled out and the filling is added to it. I wasn't too worried about making the meringue, but I was a little worried about how the goodies would stay inside.

Following this, the dough and goodies are rolled into a log and then shaped into a ring. Slits are cut into the sides and the ring proofs for a while before going into the oven.

While the ring was baking, some of the meringue leaked onto the baking sheet. I was worried about it burning, but it was okay. Actually, it formed into delicious caramelized meringue puddles and I ate them all. The cake was quite lovely in presentation and the sun decided to peek out for this last photo.

The verdict? Good. I liked the dough a great deal and am eager to use it again. The meringue was gooey and sweet, but I still couldn't get past the chocolate/dough combination. What a pity! I think I would make it again with some variations because it really is not that difficult and is attractive. I only had one slice, but I left it out at Andrew's house and it was all gone by morning, so someone must have liked it.

For the recipe, visit here, and for more from other Daring Bakers, see here.

2 French dishes, 3 skirts, and 4 pies

This past week was my spring break and I was quite productive. Well, productive for everything but schoolwork. But that's what breaks are for, right? I had missed the previous week's French Friday with Dorie  since I get migraines from aged cheeses and my mom was in town. I decided this week to double up the recipes so I made the Beggar's Linguine that was assigned as well as Marie-Helene's Apple Cake that the group completed before I was a member.

The Beggar's Linguine was an interesting combination of flavors between the savory pistachios and almonds and the sweet figs and raisins. It was a very easy dish to make and took only about ten minutes total. While the linguine finishes cooking, you heat the nuts and fruit in a pan with lots of butter and then toss the cooked linguine in with it. Easy peasy. I probably wouldn't use quite so much butter next time. My only complaint was that it was difficult to get the noodles and the goodies in one bite, so I was either eating a bunch of veeeery buttery noodles or a few pistachios and figs. But if that's the worst thing, then it's not so bad.

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake was also quite lovely. It was surprisingly chilly and rainy out compared to the weather we'd been having, so one last wintery dessert seemed fitting. I didn't have any rum, so I substituted brandy, which seemed to have worked well. The cake developed a custardy consistency, but wasn't very heavy or dense. I think next time I might try it in a six-inch pan so it is even denser. It also reminded me of the gobs of Apfelkuchen I ate in Germany.



Since it was break, I also got some sewing done. I started with this tutorial with some Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile that I'd gotten on sale. I don't love the fit since it's a little too voluminous, so I might go back and tailor it later.

I made some adjustments and wished that I'd started with the Kona cotton that I used for the next and saved the voile for when I had a better sense of what I was doing. Oh well. I liked the way this one turned out. The fabric isn't extraordinary quality, but it's comfortable and lightweight.

Finally I made this one using some Amy Butler fabric I'd squirreled away last spring. I made a happy accident with my measurements and had to use two panels for the main skirt instead of one and I think it was quite fortunate that I did. The skirt is a teeny bit shorter than I'm comfortable with, but it's growing on me (figuratively).

Since tomorrow is Pi Day, I've been in the kitchen all evening making four strawberry rhubarb pies. It's still too early for rhubarb, so I used frozen, but the strawberries were delicious and on extraordinary sale. Pictures of those later. Huzzah spring!