Daring Bakers Interesting Loaf

Late again!

So I've missed the release date by 4 days and they'll have probably kicked me out by now. But here is my effort at this month's Daring Bakers Challenge.

This month's challenge was set by Jamie of Life’s a Feast and Ria of Ria’s Collection and it was to bake a Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. Tricky for a vegan baker!

I would have normally just used a basic sweet bread dough recipe, but I found in the Daring Kitchen forums a post from a fellow vegan baker with their recipe for this month's challenge. The dough used tofu in it's recipe and as I'd never tried this before I thought I'd give it a go. You'll have to wait until the end to see the results...but I wasn't too keen!

This is the recipe and instructions for the tofu dough…

1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 TBS 110-115˚ water
2 c. + 3 TBS unbleached flour
1/4 c. almond meal
2 TBS cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c. non-dairy milk
1/4 c. vegan butter, melted
1/4 c. + 2 TBS silken tofu (Mori-Nu brand only)

Lightly oil a medium-sized bowl; set aside. Combine yeast and water; let sit for 15 minutes (or until foamy). In a large bowl, combine flour, almond meal, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Create a well in the center and pour in milk, butter, tofu and yeast; mix thoroughly. Once combined, knead for 2-3 minutes. Place dough in prepared bowl and cover with a damp towel; keep in a warm place for 60 minutes to rise.

*

What struck me first about this recipe was the very small amount of water that was called for to activate the yeast in. But I thought "Hey, if it worked for her I'll give it a go!"

It didn't work for me.

Mix that dough, tofu dough.

Yummy vegan ingredients ;)

For this challenge I also attempted to make a marshmallow fluff to use inside the cake. For this I got out my giant tube of VersaWhip and put to use a recipe I had found here. Yummy!

The hand whisk was out, the marshmallow was fluffing and everything was as it should be.

But my dough didn't rise.

Fluff!

My (unrisen) dough is rolled out into a rectangle ready to receive upon it yummy

vegan delights.

Marshmallow Fluff…

…chocolate chips, chopped pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla sugar!

It's then all rolled up into a delicious vegan log...

…made into a ring and snip snip snipped.

The ring was then left for an hour in the hope that it would rise again. But all the waiting was in vain, nothing rose!

So in the oven it went at 175℃ for 25 minutes, and there was no rising to be had.

A squashed snipped tyre that I found.

So in conclusion…

• the dough did not rise, not one little bit
• the marshmallow fluff was tasty pre-cooking but seemed to melt away in the oven
• the cake was compact and had a texture similar to that of a cake that had been flattened and then cooked again

(I made a jammy fruity version too which tasted a lot nicer but still had the squashed texture!)

Do try the marshmallow fluff, don't try the dough ☠

Bisous bisous xxx