Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake

It's been a while since I posted an old Bake-Off recipe, so here's a "new" one. It's from Pillsbury's 6th Grand National $100,000 Recipe and Baking Contest held in 1955. The recipe is Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake and it was created by Mrs. Kenneth Kennedy who won third place and took home $2,500. In case you were wondering, the second place and first place winners were Caramel Chewy Cake ($7,500) and Open Sesame Pie ($25,000), which is often credited for the rise in the popularity of sesame seeds.

Given the history of Open Sesame Pie along with the popularity of some other recipes from that year, it's possible that Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake was overshadowed by its more illustrious competitors.  Even though it took home a prize, it's a very humble affair. It's a yeast-risen coffee cake topped with a mixture of brown sugar, sour cream, cornstarch and vanilla.

How to Make Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake

To make Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake, you just stir the ingredients together to form a soft dough. There's no kneading required. You then press the dough into a pan and pour over a brown sugar topping.

When baked, the topping caramelizes and forms ripples. It's something like a sticky bun, but in cake form.  Swedish Ripple Cake is not exactly pretty, so I recommend making it in one of your nicer baking pans.  I didn't bother since I was just serving this to the family, but I wish I had.

After making the 9x13 inch version I wanted to see what would happen if I made a half batch coffee cake using an 8-inch square pan. I also wanted to see how fast rising instant yeast (Platinum) would work, as opposed to the active dry. It rose a little, but it seemed like the version made with fast rising yeast didn't rise as much.  This was a surprise since instant yeast (Platinum) usually works just fine if not better.

Shallow Cake

Whatever type of yeast you use, it's still a fairly shallow cake so you get a good proportion of topping to cake.  I recommend trying this if you like simple coffee cakes or are looking for something you can assemble a few hours ahead of time and then bake for breakfast or brunch. It's plain, but also very tasty and open to some improvisation.

Notes From The Future

I posted this in 2018 and have since learned a lot more about baking with yeast and this type of yeasted cake. This one reminds me of Moravian Sugar Cake but with a different topping. These old world type yeast cakes are soft, tender and very fun to make once you get the hang of it. It might be fun to try baking this in a slightly smaller pan such as a 9x12.

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Recipe

Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake

Anna

Swedish Ripple Coffee Cake is an old Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe from 1955.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 9

Ingredients

 

• ¼ cup very warm water** (56 grams)
• 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast**
• 2 tablespoons shortening (24 grams)
• ¼ cup sugar (50 grams)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large beaten egg
• ¼ cup whole milk, room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, measured carefully (260 grams)
• 1 tablespoon of butter melted

Caramel Sour Cream Topping

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (200 grams)
• ½ cup sour cream (120 grams)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon cinnamon optional

Instructions

 

• Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Stir the yeast and warm water together in a small cup and set aside to proof.
• Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the shortening, sugar and salt and stir until blended. Add the egg and stir until blended, then add the water/yeast mixture. Stir until blended, then stir in the milk.
• Gradually add the flour, stirring to form a dough. It will be slightly sticky but firm.
• Press this dough into the pan (dampen your fingers and press), then brush top with a tablespoon of melted butter. Let rise for about 1 ½ hours.
• Combine the brown sugar, sour cream, cornstarch and vanilla (and cinnamon, if using) and carefully pour over the top, spreading lightly.
• Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm

Notes

You can also make this with fast acting yeast. If using fast active yeast, omit the water and use ½ cup milk total. Mix the fast acting yeast in with the flour. If you don't want to use shortening you can use 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil. The texture might be a bit heavier.

Keyword Pillsbury Bake-Off, Ripple Coffee Cake, Swedish

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!