Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Spiral Coffee Cake/Giant Cinnamon Roll

This is not exactly a cake or should I say it's more like a giant cinnamon roll. Instead of inidividul rolls I made it into one giant roll. This awesome coffee cake with its beautiful spiral and layers of cinnamon has a texture of soft fluffy bread and not overly sweet like the usual cinnamon rolls. The dough is a joy to work with but I did encounter some minor problem along the way especially coiling up the dough. I did the coiling on the kitchen counter rather than right in baking pan. When I was done coiling I have problem picking the whole dough up as it was too heavy and soft. So if you plan to make this try doing the coiling steps in the baking pan.

Ingredients for the dough:

2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp yeast (about 7 gram)
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk - lukewarm
1/2 stick/56 gram unsalted butter - melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract




For the glaze

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. honey

Cinnamon-Butter Filling

2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted


1. To Make the Dough, stir together 2 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside. In a bowl combined lukewarm milk, melted butter, vanilla and eggs together.
2. Attach the mixing bowl to the mixer, and fit the mixer with the dough hook attachment. Slowly drizzle in the milk mixture over the flour-yeast. Mix until dough comes together. At this point if the dough is too sticky you can add in the extra ¼ cup of flour by putting in 2 tbsp as a time. Resume mixing on medium speed until the dough is smooth, still soft, and slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
3. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 45-60 minutes. The dough is ready when a finger gently pressed into it leaves an indentation.
4. Meanwhile prepare and greased an 8” baking pan. To prepare the glaze combined brown sugar, butter and honey and cook over low heat until butter is completely melted. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tilt the pan to cover the bottom evenly.


5. To Assemble the Coffee Cake: Gently deflate the dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 16 by 12-inch rectangle. Using a pastry brush spread the melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon powder and sugar over the dough
6. Cut the dough lengthwise into 1 1/4 inch-wide strips. (A pizza cutter is helpful here.) Loosely (so the dough has some space to expands in the oven) roll up 1 strip and place it in the center of the prepared pan on top of the glaze.



7. One at a time, coil the remaining dough strips around the center strip, starting each strip at the end of the previous one, to make a single large spiral. As you roll the dough strips around the coffee cake, the butter-cinnamon side of the dough strips should be facing inside. (When you finish forming he spiral there will be some space left in the pan. The spaces around the dough will fill in as the dough bakes. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the cake rise in a warm place until it is almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

8. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. Bake the coffee cake until the top is deep golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. To remove the cake, gently run a share knife around the edge, and then invert it to a serving plate. Leave the pan on the cake for 1 minute, so the glaze transfers to the cake, and then gently lift off the pan. Using a rubber spatula, scrape out any glaze remaining in the pan and spread it over the warm surface of the cake.
9. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges gently with a serrated knife. This coffee cake is best the day it is made.

I am submitting this to Yeastspotting

30 comments:

Shereen said...

There is something wrong with your new template.The comment is overlapping with your post.Anyway,now I know what you mean by 'giant'...lol..this coffee cake is definately a monster!As usual, you have outdone everyone else with your interesting and crazy recipe...in a good way.I am so going to try out this recipe and i am not sharing...hah...sooo greedy!!!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Excellent idea to roll the bread dough up. Only did this rolling technique with cake for my husband's birthday last yr. Indeed it is tricky to roll it up, especially towards the end. Good one Gert, bet you need a BIG cup of Jo to go with it, lol!

Min said...

I like your GIANT cinnamon roll, really new to me and will try this in near future.

Jeannie said...

Wow! That sure is a huge cinnamon roll! Amazing how you manage to transfer it into the baking pan. Bet it tasted very delicious too!

Ummi said...

Hello Gert,
Nice sharing..looks great! Owh, that rolling technique looks tricky..hopefully I can try out this recipe soon!

ReeseKitchen said...

Gert, it is a very interesting way of rolling up the cinnamon roll. Really nice, and thanks for the idea.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Really nice, I like how it was done.

WendyinKK said...

Ohhh...... looks so good to me.
I'll try this technique with other breads cos sigh, cinnamon is a big no no with my hubby.

Unknown said...

what a beautiful thing that is

mycookinghut said...

Yum.. looks super delicious!! I definitely will like it cos of the glaze...

MaryMoh said...

Wow..this looks pretty and delicious. Would be so good with tea. I think I will have great fun coiling it up.

tigerfish said...

Yep, I can see the layers...a layered cake made from cinnamon rolls :D

Elin said...

excellent idea to roll them into a big one :) Gert, thanks for the tips to roll them on the baking sheet itself. I would have done the same like you :)

Cheah said...

This is so well done! I made mine, individually. Must try your method. Thanks for sharing!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

make in giant shape, it is fast and save time, great idea!

My Kitchen and Me said...

Your cakes always look fabulous!

Mumto4Angels said...

It's such a coincidence that I just ran into a recipe that talks about the coiling of this coffee cake and there it it, your recipe here....I'm so glad you explained it better than the one I found, now I'll definitely going to bake this cake one of these days...thanks for sharing :)

Kitchen Corner said...

Very special cinnamon roll. Like a cake! You're so creative!

Pei-Lin said...

Gert, kudos to you! You're a gem to the Food Blogosphere! I'd thought of doing this to other bread but never to cinnabons!

Katie said...

Wow oh wow this looks fabulous! I'd want to try and eat the whole thing!

ICook4Fun said...

Shereen, mine is ok lah. Let me check with the rest and see if they have the same problem. Anyway, hope you like this giant roll ha ha..

Bee bee, I have yet to try out with the cake yet. Going to check out your recipe.

Min, thanks.

Jeannie, ha ha.. here in America everything is BIG so here is the BIG cinnamon roll. It was not easy but I used a big spatula tranfering it to the baking pan. Lesson learned :)

Ummi, actually tak susah sangat as the dough is very flexible. Just remember kalau you nak buat ni, do the coiling of the dough in the baking pan ya.

LCOM, thanks.

Wendy, you can always omit the cinnamon and replace it with fruity jam. It will still taste good.

ICook4Fun said...

Jennifurla, thanks.

Leemei, for this coffee cake it is all about the glaze :)

Mary, yes I am sure you are going to enjoy making this.

Tigerfish, :)

Elin, ha ha.. easier to roll on the work table but difficult to pick it up after that :)

Cheah, thank you.

Sonia, no actually. It takes time to coil them up :)

My Kitchen & Me, thanks.

Mumto4Angels, hope you like this big roll.

Kitchen Corner, thanks.

ICook4Fun said...

Pei-lin, thank you for you kind words. It made my day :)

Katie, welcome to my blog and thanks for your comment.

petite nyonya said...

The layers inside look distinct - by way of yr good technique I must say!

jaya said...

hi, ur lovely creation is making me drool all over...just a doubt , how many gram of flour does one cup holds? I dont have a standard cup of measurement...hope i am not bothering u much..:)

ICook4Fun said...

Petite Nyonya, thank you.

Jaya, please refer to this link:
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Cup-to-Gram-Conversions/Detail.aspx

jaya said...

Thank u vry much, link is a great help.

hobby baker Kelly said...

What a great company breakfast idea! So much more "middle" to go around. (And my in-laws love the middle part.) ☺

Kathy said...

This looks fabulous! What if you created a parchment sling? Would that work ...? Fit parchment into the baking pan (across the bottom of the pan and up the sides), with creases to indicate where the bottom of the pan would be. Then remove the parchment. Assemble the giant cinnamon roll on the parchment and then lift it back into the pan? That way, there would be room to work and you'd also have some help getting the roll back into the pan. Kathy

ICook4Fun said...

Hobby Baker, hope you like this.

Kathy, thank you for the suggestion and I think it is a great idea. I will be using your method the next time I make this again. Thanks again :)