Cooking Friday # 5 : Glazed Apple Lattice Coffee Cake

I saw this coffee cake at Patricia's, my sweet foodie blogger buddy. Yes, it was love at the first sight. I never knew Glazed Apple Lattice before, so that was just my first time ever. And I was just so curious to try the recipe out. With that lattice top and the drizzle of the icing, it was just so pretty!

So I e-mailed dear Pati, asked a few things and I told her this would be great for my 5th episode of cooking podcast project "COOKING FRIDAY".

Just don't get fooled by the long list of ingredients. This delectable and fragrant coffee cake does take a bit of time to prepare, but is actually quite easy to make, and well worth the effort. The recipe itself is very detailed and well explained. It calls for orange zest but since I didn't have one, I substitute it for keylime zest.

When I made this, actually it wasn't really perfect at proofing stage. The dough didn't rise perfectly and doubled in volume. I doubt it and thought, "this is not gonna work!"

But to my surprise, when it came out from the oven, this coffee cake turned out so wonderful and rise perfectly (at least to me...hahaha), not to mentioned the fragrant of the cake hhmmm....makes my mouth watering!

Thanks for sharing, Patricia. The result was superb! I never expected the combination beetwen cardamon, nutmeg and cinnamon could be so delish!



Glazed Apple Lattice Coffee Cake
source : Bon Appetit, Oct 2007 via Patricia's



Dough:
2 tablespoons warm water (40 to 46ºC/105ºF to 115ºF)
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast

½ cup (120ml) whole milk
6 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (dita-I used keylime zest)
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 2 ¼ cups (280 to 315g) all purpose flour

Filling:
2 tablespoons (¼ stick) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1 ¼ pounds (565g) Golden Delicious apples (about 3 medium), peeled, cored, quartered, cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (dita-I used keylime zest)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (dita-I used keylime zest)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Nonstick vegetable oil spray or vegetable oil
1/3 cup finely crumbled vanilla wafer cookies or soft ladyfingers



Glaze :
1 ½ cups powdered sugar (dita-I only used 5 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons (or more) orange juice (dita-I used keylime juice)

Start with the dough: place 2 tablespoons warm water in small cup. Mix in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 6 minutes.

Stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt in medium saucepan over medium-low heat just until sugar dissolves and butter melts (mixture should be just warm). Scrape milk mixture into large bowl; cool to lukewarm if necessary. Whisk in yeast mixture, egg yolks, orange peel, and spices. Add 2 cups flour; mix with rubber spatula until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Knead until smooth and silky, sprinkling with more flour by tablespoonfuls as needed, about 6 minutes – it’s a very tender dough, delicious to work with. Place in clean large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and kitchen towel. Place in warm draft-free area (I use my microwave oven); let rise until light and almost doubled in volume, about 2 ½ hours.

Now, the filling: melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar. Cook until thick grainy sauce forms, about 1 minute. Mix in apples. Cook until apples are tender and sauce is reduced to glaze, tossing often, about 7 minutes. Mix in all grated peel and spices. Cool filling at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Place large sheet of foil (dita-I used parchment paper) on work surface; spray with nonstick spray. Turn dough out onto foil. Roll out to 14x12-inch (35x30cm) rectangle. Sprinkle cookie crumbs in 4-inch-wide (10cm) strip down center, leaving ½-inch (1.25cm) border at top and bottom. Arrange apples with any juices atop crumbs. Starting ½ inch (1.25cm) from each long side of apples, cut straight to edge of dough at 1-inch (2.5cm) intervals, making about 13 strips on each side. Fold dough strips alternately and on slight angle over filling, forming lattice. Seal open ends of dough.

Slide foil with dough onto large rimmed baking sheet; trim foil overhang. Cover cake loosely with plastic and towel. Place cake in warm draft-free area; let dough rise until light and puffy, about 1 ¾ hours.

Preheat oven to 190ºC/375ºF. Bake cake uncovered until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.

For glaze:
Mix powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice in small bowl to blend, adding more juice by ½ teaspoonfuls if too thick. Drizzle glaze over cake. Gently run spatula under cake to loosen from foil. Cut crosswise into slices. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8-10 servings

Previous episodes :
1. Cooking Friday # 1 : Pie Crust
2. Cooking Friday # 2 : Banana Cake
3. Cooking Friday # 3 : Elmo Pizza (Baking with Kids)
4. Cooking Friday # 4 : Banana Chocolate Chips Cookies