Date, Almond & Cherry Coffee Cake With A Sourdough Starter (alternatives given)

I found this delicious looking recipe for a Coffee Cake in one of my recipe books and decided to try it out. As per usual, for me, I adapted the recipe so that I could use my Sourdough starter. I also changed the suggested fillings of the original recipe completely. I give advice for using alternative raising agents in the blog as well.

This is the recipe book the original recipe came from.

And this is the original recipe.

Warm 1/4 cup (60 ml) of milk to lukewarm.
Option 1: If you are using active dry yeast, you should add a package to 1/4 cup of lukewarm water and let it sit until if becomes frothy. Adding some of the sugar to the water may speed the process up.

Add 1/4 cup sugar and 100 g butter to this and stir until everything is dissolved or melted.

Add a cup of your sourdough starter to this and mix well.

Add 3 cups (750 ml) Cake Flour and 5 ml (1 teaspoon) salt to a bowl and mix well.
Option 2: If you are using Instant Dry Yeast, you should add a packet to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Add the liquids and one egg to this and mix.

Bring the dough together.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into an elastic ball. Add more flour or water as needed, but add it in very small increments.

Place the ball in a bowl.

Cover with plastic and let it double in size in a warm dry place.

In the meantime, get your filling ready. You will need almonds, cherries, dates, lemon rind and orange rind to start with.

Boil 1 cup (250 ml) dates in half a cup of water to soften them slightly. Once the water starts to boil, the dates will be ready.

Chop the almonds roughly. Add it to the dates in the pot.

Grate the peel of one lemon into the mixture.

Chop 1/2 cup (125 ml) of cherries roughly and add them to the pot as well. Also add 2 teaspoons of orange rind, or the grated peel of one orange.

Add 2 tablespoons (25 ml) of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 75 g butter to the pot. Stir to dissolve and melt everything.

If the mixture is very runny, thicken it with a little flour and water paste. Allow to cool.

Once the dough has risen, prepare a bake sheet with non-stick spray and flour. Prepare your work surface with flour as well and knock the dough back.

Roll the dough out in a rectangular shape on the baking sheet.

Put the filling in the middle of the dough.

Use a sharp knife to cut thick strips at an angle on both sides of the filling. Cut up to the filling.

Fold the ends in.

Fold the strips in from the sides.

Beat an egg.

Coat the cake with the beaten egg to give the cake a lovely shiny finish when done.

Cover with plastic and allow to double in size in a warm dry place.

Remove the plastic once risen.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C.

Allow to cool on wire rack.

To prevent a hard crust from forming, you can place a damp tea towel over the still hot cake.

Slice and enjoy hot or cold.

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