Yeasted Chai Spiced Apple Butter Coffee Cake | Progressive Eats
This yeasted chai spiced apple butter coffee cake is all I hoped it would be: moist, tender and chewy at the same time, with a deeply fall-ish aroma from apples, chai spices and lemon zest. Plus crumb topping, because if it doesn't have crumb topping, it isn't really a coffee cake! This recipe makes 1 large Bundt pan of coffee cake. Unless you're feeding a crowd, feel free to halve the amounts here and make enough for one loaf pan. This would make a perfect addition to Thanksgiving brunch before the main event, too.
1teaspoonchai baking spice(I use Mt. Baker's Chai Spice Seasoning from Savory Spice Shop)
1large egg
3-4ozall purpose flour
3ozunsalted butter, very soft but not greasy
For the Filling
2egg whites
tiny pinch of fine salt
½cupapple butter(store bought, or use my recipe for chai spice apple butter)
1 ½Tablespoons(4 1/2 teaspoons) corn starch)
For the Crumb Topping
2ozgranulated sugar
2ozall purpose flour
2ozcubed butter, cool
½teaspoonchai baking spice
pinch salt
For the Glaze (optional)
1cuppowdered sugar
pinch of salt
heavy pinch of chai baking spice
1-2Tablespoonsmilk
Instructions
For the Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the milk and the flour together. You'll end up with a very stiff sort of dough. Not all the flour will be incorporated (possibly), but do the best you can. Cover and set aside while you gather up all the rest of your ingredients.
In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, salt, zest, vanilla and baking spice. Hold it close to your face and breathe deeply. Smile.
Crack the egg into a small bowl, scale out 4 oz of flour (but know you might not use it all) and cut up the butter into pieces.
Once you've gotten all your ingredients together, make sure the flour and milk have sat for about 20 minutes total, and then continue.
Put the mixer bowl on your mixer and fit the dough hook on there. Add the yeast and let that get pulled up into the dough.
Add the sugar mixture and mix until more or less incorporated.
Add the egg and continue mixing until more or less incorporated.
Stir in about 3/4 of the remaining flour (3 oz) and mix to incorporated. The dough should be very messy at this point but starting to come together around the dough hook. Lots may stick in the bottom. That's okay for right now.
With the mixer on medium low speed, add in the butter, a bit at a time, over about 5 minutes. Knead for another 5 minutes on medium low speed. At this point, the dough should be mostly clearing the sides of the bowl with some sticking still in the bottom. If it still looks very messy to you, add some more of the remaining flour, but err on the side of too little flour rather than too much.
After another 5 minutes or so of kneading, the dough should be soft but very supple and extensible (stretchy).
Spray your hands with pan spray and gather the soft dough into a smooth ball. Plop it back in the mixer bowl, spray the top of it with pan spray, and cover.
Let rise in a cozy place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
To Shape, Fill and Bake
Plop the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface and cover with the bowl.
Whip the two egg whites along with a pinch of salt until foamy. Increase speed and whip to medium-stiff peaks.
While the whites are whipping, stir the cornstarch into the apple butter.
Fold the apple butter into the whites. Set aside for a moment.
Uncover your dough and press out the gases. Lightly spray the top of the dough with some pan spray to prevent sticking.
Roll into a large rectangle, about 20" x 15-16". This dough is extremely supple and is a dream to roll out.
Spread the apple butter mixture onto the rectangle of dough, leaving about 1" plain on the far side of the rectangle.
Roll up. The filling is very soft, so just do the best you can and know that it will all turn out just fine.
Set the coil of dough into a lightly sprayed 12 cup Bundt pan. Just coil it in there. Tuck the ends down toward the bottom of the pan. If it looks kind of sloppy, worry not. That's what crumb topping is for.
Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the dough, cover and let rise in a warm place until almost double again. About 1-1 1/2 hours.
While the filled and shaped dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350F. Let the oven preheat a good 30 minutes before baking.
Place the Bundt pan on a rack in the bottom third of your oven, close the door, and immediately turn up the heat to 400F. Set the timer for 5 minutes.This will encourage lovely ovenspring so you will have a tall and magestic coffee cake.
After 5 minutes, turn the oven back down to 350F and set the timer for 20 minutes.
When the timer goes off, check the bread. If spots are getting Plenty Brown, cover with foil, turn the heat down to 325F and bake an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the internal temperature is right around 200F (give or take 3 degrees).
If parts of the top of your loaf are looking anemic (I had some parts like that), broil for 2 minutes or until the top is at least light golden brown and the crumbs are hard and crunchy.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the coffee cake out and place, crumb side up, on a rack to cool to under 140F before slicing. It's better to let it cool completely, but I know you won't.
If you'd like, glaze it with the optional glaze--you don't need more than a drizzle or three
To Make the Crumb Topping
Mix all the topping ingredients together in a bowl until pebbly and no longer sandy. I do this by hand--it's the most efficient way to do it, I think.
To Make the Glaze
Whisk together powdered sugar, salt, spice and milk until you have a nice drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cooled coffee cake and allow to set up and harden before slicing.
Notes
You can also bake this in a round cake pan. Just coil the shaped log of dough into the pan and go from there.