Cream Cheese Filled Coffee Cake
Cream Cheese Filled Coffee Cake or "Cream Cheese Braids" are Danish style coffee cakes filled with a sweet cream cheese mixture. This recipe does not require kneading, but rather an 8 hour stint in the refrigerator. If you'd rather mix it in the stand mixer, I've put that option in the notes. You can also use instant yeast in place of active dry.
Servings 18 slices
Cost 5
Ingredients
Dough
- ½ cup sour cream (120 grams)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (56 grams)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water, about 110 degrees (56 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour (270 grams)
Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (114 grams)
- 6 tablespoons sugar (75 grams)
- 2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg**
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice plus a little lemon zest (¼ to ½ teaspoon)
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar (110 grams)
- 1 tablespoon melted butter (14 grams)
- 2 tablespoons whole milk (28 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the sour cream, butter, salt and sugar in a small saucepan and heat until butter is melted. Let cool to about 105 degrees F.
- Combine the yeast and water in a small bowl and let sit until it starts to foam.
- Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cooled sour cream mixture and the yeast to make a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least 8 hours.
- Punch down the dough (it probably will not appear to have risen much) and divide it into two parts.
- Roll each part into a 12- x 8-inch rectangle, and spread each rectangle with half the cream cheese filling, leaving a 1-inch border around edges. Starting on the long end, roll into a cylinder and pinch seam and ends shut. Turn upside down and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Make about 6 ¾ inch slices across top of each loaf spacing a little over and inch each. Cover with a greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. If using fast rising yeast, second rise should only be about 40 minutes.
- Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes or until browned. Let cool, then drizzle with icing and serve. If you want the icing to hold its shape and look pretty, I recommend serving at room temperature. I was worried I'd have to warm the bread and deal with melted icing, but the bread actually tastes great at room temperature. If you want to serve it warm, you might consider putting the icing on at the last minute.
Cream Cheese Filling
- To make the cream cheese filling, beat softened cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Add egg and beat until smooth, then beat in vanilla and lemon juice.
Icing
- Icing: Mix all icing ingredients together until smooth. Put the icing in a freezer bag or pastry bag. When loaves are cool, snip off end of icing bag and drizzle it across the loaves. Let set.