The other day I went to visit a friend and naturally, we had coffee together. She makes a mean brew, let me tell you. She also served Russian coffee cake, which I think was absolutely scrumptious. Naturally, I wanted to try to make it. Unfortunately, it was just a gift and she didn’t know how to make the cake. So I went online to find recipes. I found one at Recipe Zaar. Let me share it with you and let’s see if we can bake a decent cake.
Ingredients
• 2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup warm milk, scalded then cooled
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 4 1/2-5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup blanched almond, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon vanillaIcing
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juiceDirections
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir in the next four ingredients, 2 1/2 cups of the flour, the almonds, raisins and vanilla. Beat until smooth then add in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.Turn dough onto a floured board or counter and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Place the dough into a greased bowl, turn to coat. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
Punch down dough and let rise again until almost doubled, about 40 minutes.
Divide dough in half and roll each half into a well rounded bun shape. Place each bun in a well greased
1 lb coffee can. Cover and let rise until the dough starts to puff up over the top of the cans, about 45 minutes.Bake at 375 degrees on a low rack in the center of the oven for 45 minutes or until brown. Let cool slightly then remove from cans.
Mix together all of the icing ingredients and pour over the cakes letting some run down the sides.
I love how you use coffee cans instead of the conventional baking pans. It makes the recipe more “coffee-ish” don’t you think?
Photo courtesy of eekim
Originally posted on July 23, 2008 @ 3:15 am