Daring Baker's March Challenge

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.


After having to miss the last two months Baker's challenges due to illness, I was so excited to see another cake.  I truly love cake and while I'm not a big fan of meringue I have high hopes for this recipe.  I halved the recipe because my family just doesn't need two cakes.  I also left out the recommended nuts, but that's just because I don't like nuts cooked into food.  Purely selfish.  :)

It looks just lovely as it's rising.

Rolling this out was fairly easy and I was so grateful that the dough didn't stick.  It was a joy to roll out compared to Danish dough.  After I used a spoon to shake the cinnamon sugar over the meringue I realized that I should have sifted it for more smooth, even coverage.

I decided that I really didn't want to make something so similar in design to the stollen I made in December, so I elected to take a traditional jelly roll design.   One end oozed a bit of meringue but all in all the gamble paid off, and it has turned out quite lovely.

 While the cake baked the house was filled with the delicious smell of cinnamon and I found myself checked the timer repeatedly wishing that it would be finished baking so I could photograph and devour before the family got home.

 For anyone who'd like to give this a try, Yeasted Meringue Filled Coffee Cake is absolutely delicious.

Daring Cooks, March Challenge

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenged us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.



I didn't try the Ceviche de Pescado because I'm allergic to so many kinds of fish, shellfish, cephalopods... etc that I have a well earned aversion to all 'fishy' foods.   I was grateful that only one of the two recipes was required.
Hmm, I must admit that Papas Rellenas was a nice challenge to return to after having to miss February due to a nasty combination of procrastination meets illness.  I've always wanted to try papas but never took the time.  Thanks to Lent, I'm not eating meat, but I really wanted to try the beef recipe.  The photos provided made it look so delicious.  So, I used Boca crumbles for a substitute, and it was delightful.

This post is close to the wire because I wanted to have the food for my husbands birthday dinner, which happens to be today, the 14th.  Of course, he's working late today so we're having a late night party for him.  All the same, the recipe is delicious and I enjoyed it so much that we will surely have it again.  My husband, who announced a sudden and previously unknown aversion to olives, did not, though for some reason he blamed the cumin.  I'd respect that if only he hadn't been ignorantly consuming cumin for years.  ;)