Port Cherry Coffee Cake

Today, society is faced with a variety of drinks. Instead of black coffee and ice cold milk, now there is half-caf soy lattes and walnut milk. Faced with so many choices, we find ourselves trying them all. Some are good and some not so good. However, it is nice to go back to those plain "old school" drinks.

Ice cold milk or black coffee (even though considered "old school") deserves a side of pastry or cookies. The plainest of each drink calls out for a pairing of a sweet breakfast treat. After all, there is a reason some cakes are called coffee cake and these cakes contain no coffee.

This particular cake has a special blend of port wine and cherries swirling through a fluffy vanilla batter. Aside from the flavor, the moist texture derived from the sour cream and the contrasting sweet almond streusel on top is very pleasing to the palate.

So let's go into the kitchen to create a delicious side line for an "old school" beverage. One tasty slice with plain black coffee may cause you to permanently give up that Caramel Mudslide drink from the coffee house.  

Port Cherry Coffeecake
adapted from Chowhound

Ingredients/Swirl
1 cup diced dried cherries
2 cups port wine
1/4 cup sugar
1-3 inch cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split and opened up flat
1/4 tsp sea salt

Ingredients/Almond Streusel
4 tbs melted butter
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbs dark brown sugar
3 tbs granulated sugar
 
Ingredients/Cake
3 eggs
3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 vanilla bean 

For the first component (swirl), start by filling a saucepan with all the ingredients. Place over medium high heat and let cook. Mixture should come to a low boil or simmer. Stir constantly to make sure it does not stick or burn. Once it reduces down to having only 1/3 to 1/4 a liquid amount, remove from heat and take out cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Discard the two. Transfer cherry mixture to a heat proof bowl and place in refrigerator to cool for a minimum of 20 minutes.

As that cools, create the streusel. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and insure that one rack is on the middle tier of the oven. Using a medium size bowl, mix together the warm melted butter with both types of sugars. Then stir in the salt. Add the flour and combine until no dry streaks remain. Lastly, mix in the almonds. Set aside.

The cake batter starts with the preparation of the 10 inch tube pan. Grease the pan's interior and dust with flour. Fill a sieve (place over a large bowl) with flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift dry ingredients into the bowl. Set aside.

Add butter to a bowl of a stand mixer and beat until nice and smooth. Stop at intervals to scrape down the sides. The butter should be lighter in color after beating. Continue to run the mixer at medium high speed and add the sugar in separate intervals. Beat time should be about 5 minutes.

Take the vanilla bean and split down the middle and scrape the seeds into the batter. Mix until well distributed. Add one egg beat for 30 seconds to combine. Repeat the process until all eggs are blended into the batter. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer.

Using a wooden spoon, fold 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the batter. Add half of the sour cream and stir. Mix in 1/2 of the remaining dry ingredients and then the the rest of the sour cream. Then add the last of the sifted ingredients and blend together. Top the batter with spoonfuls of the cherry swirl, spacing the dollops apart. Carefully fold the swirl mixture into the batter, using only about 4 or 5 strokes. The cherry mixture should be blended to the point of only streaking the batter, not be fully mixed into it.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth out evenly. Cover the surface of the batter with the streusel, making sure it is evenly covered. Using clean hands, lightly press streusel against the batter.

Place pan in oven on middle rack an bake until tester comes out clean. This should take about 50 minutes to bake. Once baked, place pan over a rack to cool for about 1 hour. Run a knife around the edges and flip the cake onto a cake board. Flip once again so that streusel is face up. Let cool completely before serving.
                          **LAST YEAR: Italian Cream Filled donuts**         

Chocolate Wine Loaf Cake

Let's face it..there are many flavor matches that include chocolate. I think it is because chocolate is pretty much a universal favorite. Adding chocolate to any baked good rarely gets objected to, so when I came across a recipe that included chocolate wine, I was not really surprised.

Chocolate wine...I found a number of brands of wine with this flavor. Some of the wines looked like coffee while others kept their deep red color. After reading a few labels of different brands, I chose a red wine with natural chocolate flavor-Trentadue Chocolate Amore. The original recipe used a dark red wine called Chocolate Rouge that I was unable to find. Since I did not use it,I cannot comment on the flavor that this particular brand imparts on the cake.

The two things that intrigued me the most about this recipe when I read it was the amount of dutch cocoa and the amount of chocolate wine. For one loaf, it calls for 3/4 cup of wine. This amount does insure that the flavor will remain after baking. The 1/2 cup of cocoa also had me thinking of how rich and dark the chocolate flavor would be.

I was not disappointed. With a moist brownie-like texture and a heavenly flavor of sweet merlot enveloped by rich chocolate flavor, one slice was purely addictive.

This recipe makes 1 chocolate loaf. I used a 9X5 inch pan. The loaf was not that tall, so if I was to make it again, I would opt for something smaller.

Chocolate Wine Loaf Cake
adapted from Heather's French Press 

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate wine
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter 
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup dark/Dutch cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter the sides and interior of a loaf pan. Line the bottom and long sides of the loaf pan with parchment paper and butter the surface.

In a small bowl, sift together cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder and only 1 cup of the flour. Set aside.

Fill the bowl of the stand mixer with butter and both sugars. Cream together on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add one egg and beat, stopping at one interval to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Repeat the process with the other egg.

While the mixer is still running, add the vanilla extract and then slowly stream in the wine. Once all is mixed in, turn mixer off and remove bowl. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the dry ingredients. If the batter still seems a little thin, stir in some of the extra flour to thicken.

Spoon into the loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and rest pan on rack for 15 minutes, then transfer to rack and remove parchment paper. Once completely cool, it is ready to slice and serve.

Tips and notes:
1. After you add the wine, the batter will look real soupy, but the dry ingredients will remedy that.
2. The recipe states bake for 1 hour, but mine only took 45 minutes which could be attributed to the size of the pan. The recipe did not specify pan size.
3. It is normal for the surface of the loaf to crack some while baking. 
4. This has a deep dark chocolate flavor, so some whipped cream would tone it down a bit.
                                   **LAST YEAR:Cannoli Cake Roll**

Black Walnut Madeira Cake

As most of us know, when dealing with a strongly flavored ingredient, there has to be another ingredient which mellows that flavor.  We all have choked at one time or another, when someone prepares something in which the flavor is overpowering.  My situation involved cilantro and I had a friend that stated hers was banana.  However, when reviewing strong flavors, black walnuts fall into that category.  The perfect offset for that slightly bitter taste of black walnuts would be something sweet.  In this particular recipe, Madeira wine is included in the batter and the cake is topped with an extra sweet icing and a sprinkling of more nuts.  They both play an important part in creating a good balance of flavors.

Black Walnut Madeira Cake
adapted from My Great Recipes

Ingredients/ Loaf Cake
1/2 cup chopped black walnuts
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Madeira wine
3 egg whites
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar 
1 1/2 cups flour

Ingredients/ Frosting
2 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbs milk
chopped walnuts for sprinkling top

Prepare the 9X5 inch loaf pan by greasing the interior.   Also, line bottom and 2 sides (with excess overhang) with parchment paper.  Grease the surface of the parchment paper touching the sides and bottom.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Fill a bowl with butter and both sugars and beat on high speed for one minute.  Set aside.  Sift together the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda.  Fold 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture.  Pour in the milk and stir until smooth. Stir in the next 1/3 of the sifted ingredients and then mix in the Madeira wine.  Lastly, fold in the rest of the dry ingredients and set aside.

In another bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until it reaches the stiff peak stage.  Gently fold the egg whites into the prepared batter until evenly distributed.  Then mix in the walnut pieces.   Bake cake in oven for about 45-50 minutes or until tester indicates done. Cool 10 minutes in pan then run a knife between the cake and the pan on the sides without parchment.  Lift cake out of pan with excess overhang of parchment and place on rack to completely cool.

For the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium high speed with an electric mixer.  Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk, stirring to combine.  Once the frosting has the desired consistency, spread on the top surface of the cake.  Then sprinkle with walnut pieces, if desired.

Tips and Notes:
1.  Both the wine and the nuts are the stand out flavors in this recipe.  You can use Marsala and regular walnuts, but the flavor will not be the same.
2. Since the frosting is made with brown sugar, it does need some time to set.  As it sets, the texture will not be as gritty like the newly made frosting.  Be aware that it is very sweet, but the sprinkling of the nuts tones that down.
                                       **LAST YEAR: Chocolate Chunk Cream Cake**