Eggnog Coffee Cake for the New Year

New Year’s Eve is almost upon us and it is time to think of what to serve your guests. We ran into a great idea from The West Australian in their Life & Style section, a recipe for eggnog coffee cake! Eggnog is a classic for the holiday season and it gives a great flavor to coffee cake. They suggest that you “Have a slice of the cake, and it will remind you of sipping the rich, delicious and high-calorie holiday drink.”

Their eggnog coffee cake recipe is pretty basic and they use store-bought eggnog. They simply add two cups of eggnog to their coffee recipe. We think that you can do better with the coffee cake and especially with the eggnog. For ideas about basic and fancy eggnog recipes take a look at our article on how to make homemade eggnog. Regarding coffee cake, there is a lot more to be said.

Coffee Cake

In case you are interested, April 7 is National Coffee Cake Day. And, according to Stuart Flexner, in Listening to America the term coffee cake came into being around 1879. But the origins of coffee cake go way back to Northern Europe (Germany and Denmark) and the 17th century when it was the custom to eat yeasty sweet bread while drinking coffee.

(Foodimentary)

In Northern Europe, coffee cake evolved from traditional sweetbreads and became known as gugelhupf or kuchen. This cake and the tradition spread throughout Europe, across the English Channel to Great Britain, and across the Atlantic to the Americas.

With each migration, the cooks of the new country added their own touches. For example, British coffee cake is a sponge cake while American coffee cake is a sweet cake flavored with fruit or cinnamon and often containing sour cream. Other variations on the coffee cake theme include applesauce cake, Hungarian arany galuska which contains walnuts and cinnamon, stollen which is German Christmas cake, and Tortuga Rum Cake. (Wikipedia)(CoffeeCakes.com)

Thus eggnog coffee cake for the New Year, or anytime, joins a great tradition of coffee cakes.

A great idea is eggnog coffee cake for the New Year

Eggnog Coffee Cake

Eggnog

Eggnog was in the Americas in the 18th century. Isaac Weld wrote that

“The American travelers, before they pursued their journey, took a hearty draught each, according to custom, of egg-nog, a mixture composed of new milk, eggs, rum, and sugar, beat up together”

As we note in our article about how to make homemade eggnog, America’s first president, George Washington wrote down his own eggnog recipe, full of spirits, for posterity.

Learn how to make homemade eggnog for Christmas and then make eggnog coffee cake for the New Year!

Homemade Eggnog

Making Eggnog Coffee Cake (Eggnog as the Glaze)

To make this recipe, start by making the eggnog. You can follow our basic recipe in How to Make Homemade Eggnog or use your own recipe. You can even add coffee for your eggnog coffee cake for the New Year!

Once your eggnog is ready and in the refrigerator and before you drink all of it, put aside enough to make your eggnog coffee cake for the New Year (see the recipes). A good, basic coffee cake to start with is a standard cinnamon coffee cake to which you add an eggnog glaze.

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • For the cake
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • For the topping and glaze:
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Pinch of salt
  • 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons eggnog

Making the Cake

  • Coat a 9 inch spring form pan with cooking spray and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
  • In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt
  • In a separate large bowl beat the granulated sugar and butter with a mixer at medium to high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy which will take about 3 minutes
  • Then add the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat again until well mixed
  • Now reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture gradually (three batches)
  • Add sour cream in between the batches of flour and increase mixer speed to high until thoroughly mixed
  • Transfer the batter to the spring form pan and set aside.

Making the Topping and Baking the Cake

  • To a medium bowl add flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Then work in the butter with your fingers until the mixture is clumpy
  • Scatter this topping over the cake
  • Put in the oven and bake for an hour to hour and ten minutes. Check towards the end and when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean the cake is done
  • Remove the cake from the oven and place on a rack to cool for twenty minutes
  • After twenty minutes, remove the spring form ring to allow the cake to cool completely.

Making the Glaze

Add eggnog and confectioners’ sugar to a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add an extra tablespoonful of eggnog if the glaze is too thick. Drizzle the eggnog glaze over the coffee cake just before serving.

(Food Network)

Making Eggnog Coffee Cake (Eggnog in the Cake)

  • For the cake
  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup eggnog
  • 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
  • For the topping
  • 1 1⁄4 cups pecans, broken
  • 1⁄4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Making the Cake

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
  • Using a 9 inch fluted or plain tube pan, coat the inside with butter
  • Add cream, butter, and sugar to a large bowl and mix until it is fluffy and light
  • Continue beating and add eggs, eggnog, and vanilla
  • Then stir in flour, baking powder, and salt
  • Now beat into has a butter texture

Making the Topping

  • In a small or medium bowl mix sugar, cinnamon, and nuts
  • Scatter half of the topping over bottom of pan
  • Using a spoon add half of the batter
  • Scatter the rest of the topping evenly over the batter and add the rest of the batter

Bake

  • Bake for 50 to 60 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in center will come out clean)
  • Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

(Genius Kitchen)

Jazz Up Your Eggnog Coffee Cake for the New Year

Although there are lots of coffee cake recipes, perhaps the best way to vary your eggnog coffee cake for the New Year is to jazz up the eggnog. Going back to George Washington, people were putting rum and lots of other spirits in their eggnog. Perhaps, the end result of adding rum to your eggnog would be an eggnog rum cake for the holidays!

Eggnog Coffee Cake for the New Year – Slideshare Version

Eggnog Coffee Cake for the New Year – PDF




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