Wednesday, October 22, 2008

A Baker Did Not Originally Create Coffee Cake

By Jerry Blackburn

According to the colonial period, a baker did not originally create coffee cake. Coffee cake can be traced back well before that period. At first, they were delicious honey bars. Then it evolved into French galettes, which inspired fruitcakes and prompted others to try the sweet yeast roll, which gave way to the Danish coffee cake with actual coffee in the recipe. Ultimately, the cakes were baked in mass assembly and are now commonplace.

Recipes Brought To America The suggestion of a coffee cake in the early days of North America was that of merely eating some good tasting sweet roll as you sipped from a coffee. The tradition most likely started in Europe in the seventeenth century. Those who record history have taken note that the Germans, the Scandinavians, and the Dutch transported their various formulas for the tasty pastry with them and consequently presented coffee cake to North America.

It is thought that the early adaptations of the coffee cake would remind you of bread more than cake. They were on the whole baked from flour, eggs, yeast, sugar, nuts, some dried fruits, and sweet spices. However, over the years the coffee cake has evolved and has begun to include cheese, yogurt, and various sugared fruits as well as a variety of creamy fillings.

German and Holland Communities The German and the Holland communities during colonial times were well-known in New York, Delaware and New Jersey for their coffee cake. Their recipes are analogous to the recipes for the common pastry of that day. The Scandinavians preferred something sugary at coffee break, and so donated their skills to the development of the tastier cake. These Scandinavians were definitely very proud of their baking abilities. These migrants together with others arriving from Central Europe brought with them many ideas for the mid-morning break when a hot drink and something tasty to eat became a tradition that continues today.

Today these specialty cakes are characteristically seasoned with cinnamon, nuts, and fruits. Sometimes apples may be a common feature that is added to this tasty end of the dinner. One may hear the phrase "apple coffee cake." These cakes occasionally have a crumbly or crumb topping and a name changed to Streusel.

In the book "Listening to America," the author claims that in 1879 coffee cake became a well known term in America. Writers have ploughed through many old cook books and concluded that instructions for coffee cakes were made available for everyday homemakers during the colonial days by word-of-mouth. In addition, many of them would have been simply written down by hand and past on. There are plentiful selections of this kind of cake and a couple of the admired forms are the streusel and the crumb cake adaptation.

About the Author:

No comments: