This was Yummy!

I made this Sunday a.m. before church - our friend Diane - kitchen maven extrarodenaire - fixed a little "brunch" for after the Easter service - this took a little longer to bake than I thought it would, consequently making us late for choir practice - boy that makes the director mad at me (and since he was the one driving, all he could do was grumpus)

So anyhow, I get an email newsletter from Land-o-Lakes - what's not to love - butter, cream, eggs, etc. & there was this recipe for Apricot Cream Coffee cake. Do you realize than in all my years of baking, I've never made a real coffee cake? It sounded pretty tasty, so I thought I'd give it a go for Diane's Easter brunch. Well, mine didn't turn out quite like the one on the picture in the Land-o-Lakes web site, but I think that's because I used "lite" cream cheese instead of regular - it made too thin a mixture and all the jam sunk to the middle - but let me tell you - that first bite was a little bit of heaven!

APRICOT CREAM COFFEE CAKE
Preparation time: 20 min Baking time: 45 min Cooling time: 20 min
Yield: 16 servings

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 LAND O LAKES™ All Natural Farm Fresh Eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 LAND O LAKES™ All Natural Farm Fresh Egg
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 (12-ounce) jar apricot preserves

Glaze Ingredients:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bottom and sides of 10-inch springform pan.

Combine all coffee cake ingredients in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Spread batter on bottom and 2 inches up sides of prepared pan.

Combine all filling ingredients except apricot preserves in small bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Pour over batter in pan. Spoon preserves evenly over filling.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 20 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from pan by running knife around inside of pan; remove sides of pan.

Meanwhile, stir together powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired drizzling consistancy in small bowl. Drizzle over warm coffee cake. Serve warm or cold; store refrigerated.

Nutrition Facts (1 serving): Calories: 280, Fat: 15g, Cholesterol: 80mg, Sodium: 220mg, Carbohydrates: 35g, Dietary Fiber: 0g, Protein: 4g

5356A © 1995 Land O'Lakes, Inc.

NOTES: I will definately make this again - it was very easy & worth every calorie! - I put my dry ingredients together the night before so I had less "reading" to do at 8:00 in the a.m. - I probably could have left my butter & cream cheese out too, but I nuked them instead.

I didn't grease OR flour my spring form pan, but the cake popped right out of it - without running a knife around it to loosen it - I think this would be excellent with any jam - I used Smuckers Apricot Preserves - (with a name like Smuckers, you gotta be good) - or I would think that you could just drop some blueberries or raspberries right into the cream cheese mixture. Or maybe some lemon curd. Ho, mamma, wouldn't that be tasty?

The Menu -

Fruit Salad, Baked Ziti, Layered pea Salad, Confetti Pasta Salad (I promise I'll post that recipe later this week), deviled eggs, of course, Apricot Cream coffee cake and a GLORIOUS pineapple upside down cake with REAL whipped cream. Diane, it was to die for :-)