Coffee Cakes - Bake-off XVII

[Darienne]

The problem is with the questions, not the answers. If you know what the questions are, you can find the answers. Now I am such a novice at this baking life, that I didn't even know there were questions about how to make sure a bundt cake was done or how to make sure it didn't stick in the pan. So I didn't ask.

Now I know. Yes, my cake was fully baked and is delicious. I baked it a very long time. The old toothpick trick wasn't all that useful, because the pick had to travel through a layer of interior streusel which would not come clean because of its very nature.

However my bundt cake is also in a great number of pieces. It wasn't the cake that stuck. It was the streusel. And stick it did. Despite all my greasing and flouring. Who knew?

Well, now I do. No more bundt cakes for me for a while. We'll eat it and they can all laugh at me and I shall remain above the frey, concentrating on loftier thoughts.

Thanks to all for the help. What a week. My first springform cheesecake slips and falls through its collar and my first bundt cake is in tatters. At least my blueberry loaves came true on the second try (well, I screwed up the first ones sort of and they turned out more colorful than needed, that sort of gray-purple color).

Please do not hire me to cater your next big fancy do!

[RWood]

The problem is with the questions, not the answers.  If you know what the questions are, you can find the answers.  Now I am such a novice at this baking life, that I didn't even know there were questions about how to make sure a bundt cake was done or how to make sure it didn't stick in the pan.  So I didn't ask.

Now I know.  Yes, my cake was fully baked and is delicious.  I baked it a very long time.  The old toothpick trick wasn't all that useful, because the pick had to travel through a layer of interior streusel which would not come clean because of its very nature.

However my bundt cake is also in a great number of pieces.  It wasn't the cake that stuck.  It was the streusel.  And stick it did.  Despite all my greasing and flouring.  Who knew?

Well, now I do.  No more bundt cakes for me for a while.  We'll eat it and they can all laugh at me and I shall remain above the frey, concentrating on loftier thoughts.  

Thanks to all for the help.  What a week.  My first springform cheesecake slips and falls through its collar and my first bundt cake is in tatters.  At least my blueberry loaves came true on the second try (well, I screwed up the first ones sort of and they turned out more colorful than needed, that sort of gray-purple color).

Please do not hire me to cater your next big fancy do!

←

Bummer about all the problems. When doing a bundt cake with streusel, you do really need to butter the pan well. But, always start with cake batter first, then layer your streusel and more batter, ending with batter. Some streusels can be more sticky. But, as long as the pan is buttered well, it should be fine. Most bundt cakes or any cake in that type of pan, generally take at least an hour to bake.

For blueberry or any berry cake, it usually works best to fold the fruit in gently by hand at the very end. Frozen will work well, just add it last and fold gently. Shouldn't have smurf muffins or cake that way . I've seen lots of that.

[Lisa Shock]

While in Japan I was surprised to discover that what they mean by 'coffee cake' is cake flavored with actual coffee. I also recently had a woman from India ask me for a good coffee cake recipe because she misses 'cake with a good strong coffee flavor.'

I personally don't like coffee, so I am not interested in making such a cake. I was just wondering about how common this use of the term is outside of the US. -And, if it refers to a particular type of product or is as loosely applied as it is here.

The cake I tried in Japan was the cake style, with coffee flavoring the streusel.

I enjoy both styles, but have not perfected a recipe for either. When I lived in Santa Fe (high altitude) I would use the one egg high altitude cake recipe from the 1980's Joy of Cooking and add an improvised struesel topping of butter, sugar, flour and nuts with a dash of nutmeg & cinnamon. At sea level the recipe is really different, even after adjusting and changing the volume measurements to weight measures. So, I haven't been happy about this for 14 years and am looking forward to seeing what others post in this thread.

Happy Baking all!

[Aloha Steve]

At sea level the recipe is really different, even after adjusting and changing the volume measurements to weight measures. So, I haven't been happy about this for 14 years and am looking forward to seeing what others post in this thread.

Lisa, is there a rule of thumb for adjusting for sea level elevation for baking?

[Darienne]

Hi R Wood, Lisa Schock et al,

Yes there are specific rules for altering leavening and cooking temps and times for high altitudes and some one else will know them better than I. We lived at 4500' for 6 months last year and I had a chart to help me. There's lots on the web about this.

The Smurf effect...I like that...was because I did something stupid. I answered the phone, forgot to put in the milk before the berries and had to remix the batter.

The bundt thingy. The cake tastes great but I have decided to give it to the young family down the road. They received all my attempts at cake decorating a couple of years ago and my confectionery output (we had to get it out of the house!) so here comes the raggy bundt. I'll make another cake...maybe even with coffe this time. AND in a 9x13 pan for sure!

Thanks for all the help.

[peterm2]

I went through a period of making a bunch of different coffee cakes, trying to get one similar to what I used to get at a bakery in Summit, New Jersey (Trost's). Unfortunately, I never succeeded, but I did end up finding this pippin:

Moist Coffee Cake

I was trying to make something similar to this recipe. Either my streusel wouldn't clump together enough, or it would sink through the cake (even if I added it after baking for a bit). They also had a tasty blueberry cake that had a blueberry jam-type thing spread all over the top. That was delicious. Maybe I will start trying again.