Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake

** Cheeky grin**

Why such a title?

This is a cake…

No....

this is a bread….

No…

This is a cake….

No….

I don’t know!!!!!

** Serious look**

Okok. Seriously I am confused too. The actual name of this is Danish Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake.
I am very confused, there’s no Danish pastry in there, doesn’t look like a cake at all here, not a bit. So let’s take it as a bread. Or is there anyone that can answer me why is this thing called a cake. I think same goes for all the questions regarding why is banana cake usually called banana bread. Oh, this one I can answer, cos banana cake is considered a quick bread, leavened by baking powders/sodas instead of yeast. But why is this Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake called a cake and not a bread???? Anyone out there???

But who cares what the name is… important is it’s YUMMY!!!!
The texture is so soft, the choc streusel’s heavenly. And the best is I only knead it by hand for 10 minutes!!!! The last time I baked bread was more than a year ago, in my collection of Sweet Buns. I was so into the sweet bun thingy, that I wanted to really learn how to make soft sweet buns, and I made it every few days until I really got the hang of the kneading process. 30 minutes by hand, my friends.. 30 minutes. When I finally got it, I said, no more sweet buns… for an indefinite period of time. My arms were very tired.

And now, my bread kneading has come out of it’s hibernation because of this site and was taken to the original recipe. I changed the recipe a bit, both ingredients and method (slightly only). My husband is no fan of cinnamon, so I used vanilla in both the cake?? and streusel.

 

Cake dough … not bread dough …LOL 
125ml milk
1 empty vanilla pod (seeds scraped for streusel filling)
1 and ½ tsp dry yeast
30ml water
Pinch of sugar
80gm butter (salted), slightly softened
40gm sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
Small pinch of salt
350gm all purpose flour


1. Bring milk and vanilla pod to a boil. Leave to cool down to warm.
2. While milk is cooling down, proof yeast with water and pinch of sugar until very frothy.
3. Beat butter and sugar until pale and light.
4. Beat in egg yolk, then the whole egg until well incorporated.
5. Beat in ¼ of the flour. Then 1/3 of the milk. Beat until smooth
6. Repeat step 5 twice. Give it a good beating for 2 minutes.
7. Beat in the yeast mixture and the final ¼ of flour.
8. Transfer to your kneading table or basin and give it a good knead for 10 minutes by hand until smooth and elastic. (you can use your machine, of course, but it won’t 10 minutes, 5 or 6 will do)
9. Place in a buttered bowl, turn to coat, and cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel, leave to proof until double in size for about 1 hour (I just dumped the whole basin into my cool oven to proof)
10. Meanwhile do the streusel.

Streusel Filling
70gm sugar
Vanilla seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
25gm melted butter

Pulse everything in a food processor except butter. (Or if you don’t have a food processor but only a blender like me, mix cocoa powder and flour together with a spoon until well combined. Pulse sugar and vanilla seeds in the mill for a few seconds. Combine sugar and flour mixture.) Drizzle melted butter over prepared dry ingredients and mix until well combined like fine chocolate crumbs. Leave aside until use.

Assembly:
1 egg white beaten until frothy
Almond slices

1. When dough, has risen to double in size, punch down and give it a good knead for 1-2 minutes. Leave it to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Roll out dough into a rectangle about 10X14 inch. Spread streusel mixture on top evenly,. Roll up dough and put dough seam side down on your lined baking tray.
3. With clean sharp scissors, snip ¾ inch intervals along the roll, cutting through ¾ of the dough only.
4. Start with one end, pull one piece of cut slice and twist it to the right. Take another cut slice and twist it to the left of the roll. Cut surfaces facing up. Repeat with all the the cut slices.
5. Leave to proof in a warm place for another 45 minutes or until doubled up again.
6. Preheat oven at 180C
7. Brush the loaves with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with almond flakes.
8. Put in preheated oven , close the door and immediately turn down the temperature to 160C. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

After reading through, do you have the answer why this is called a cake?
I guess it’s due to the creaming method used in the earlier part of the recipe. Still… it’s very much a bread in my eyes. So, it'll be categorised at bread in my blog.

If you do not have access to vanilla beans, you can either follow the original recipe that uses cinnamon or just substitute with some vanilla extract. Please note that the cake/bread dough is soft and tacky, but not very sticky.