Walnut Maple Yeasted Coffee Cake

This is one of those ambiguous recipes which leaves us wondering if its a cake or bread. I told my daughter it’s cake, but she says it’s bread. Oh well, the naming doesn’t matter because this cake/bread is extremely addictive and delicious!

 

This coffee cake, which has the chewy texture of white bread, is loaded with nuts and then baked drenched in a sweet and sticky syrup. The recipe uses pecans, but because walnuts are my favourite and I have a huge bag sitting my refrigerator, I used that instead. To give it a richer flavour, I also replaced the corn syrup with pure maple syrup. The best part of this cake is really biting into the sweet and crunchy topping.

It was so good that it was almost gone right after it came out from the oven and my daughter reserved the last piece for school the next day. I read some feedback online that this doesn’t keep well and is best eaten right after its baked. Although it was slightly drier the next day, it was still delicious.  I baked the full recipe in a loaf tin but only used half the amount of corn syrup and light brown sugar as the surface area is not as big as the 8 inch square tin recommended for this recipe.

Walnut Maple Yeasted Coffee Cake (Serves 9)
Recipe adapted from the World’s Quickest Yeasted Coffee Cake from Cake Keeper

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 envelopes (1-1/2 tablespoons) instant yeast
• 1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup dark corn syrup (I replaced with pure maple syrup)
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup finely shopped pecans (I replaced with walnuts)

Method

1. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and dust it with flour, knocking out any extra.
2. Heat the milk and 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan until the butter is melted and the milk is very warm to the touch. Pour into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast to dissolve. Stir in the flour and salt and beat with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until you have a sticky dough. Press the dough into the prepared pan.
3. Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar evenly over the batter.
4. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Combine the corn syrup, brown sugar, and melted butter in a medium bowl and stir. Spread over the dough. Sprinkle pecans evenly across the top.
5. Place the pan in a cold oven. Turn the heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake until the cake is golden and set in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve warm.