Boston Coffee Cake

Boston cakes are essentially various versions of cinnamon rolls baked in a round cake pan into a cake form and served in slices, like a cake - I have no idea how Boston became associated with them! This is one of the basic versions featuring hazelnuts and almonds. (And it shouldn't be quite as dark as the cake in the picture, I overbaked that one a bit!!) Please note that the amount of gluten in flour varies across the globe, so use the amount listed here only as a guideline - while it's perfect for me, you might find you need more or less! Instead of fresh yeast you can also use dry yeast, just adjust the temperature of the dough accordingly and add the dry yeast with the flour.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 25  g fresh yeast
• 100  g butter
• 250  ml milk
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 100  ml sugar
• 2  teaspoons ground cardamom
• 750  ml all-purpose flour

• Filling

• 75  g butter, softened
• 100  ml  ground almonds
• 6  tablespoons  chopped hazelnuts
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla sugar
• 100  ml powdered sugar

• Egg wash

• 1  egg, beaten
•  pearl sugar

Directions

1. Melt butter, add milk and heat the mixture gently to 38°C.
2. Crumble the yeast into the milk mixture, whip lightly to dissolve.
3. Add salt, sugar and cardamom.
4. Gradually add the flour: stir first with a wooden spoon, then knead into smooth, elastic dough that no longer sticks to the bowl nor to your hand.
5. Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).
6. Preheat oven to 200 C and grease a 24 cm round cake pan with a removable bottom.
7. Lightly flour the baking board and turn the dough on it.
8. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, 40 cm x 45 cm or so.
9. Spread the softened butter on the dough; combine the remaining filling ingredients and sprinkle on top of the butter.
10. Roll the dough up starting from the longer side and cut into appr. 4 cm pieces.
11. Place the pieces into the prepared pan on their side, and quite close to each other; cover and let rise until doubled (about 30 minutes).
12. Brush the top with the beaten egg and sprinkle pearl sugar on top of the cake.
13. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Cover while cooling.
15. You can omit the pearl sugar if you want: just brush the cake with egg before baking and drizzle some powdered sugar icing on top of the cake once it has cooled.