Thursday, October 4, 2007

Diving Right Into ARF / 5-A-Day: Real Men's Coffee Cake

Oh, this is sad. I am such a procrastinator (could you tell?). I still have a few wonderful cookbooks to review and yet I can't seem to find my writing groove to come back after reviewing Adventures of an Italian Food Lover. Maybe the kitchen fumes are getting to my head...


Anywho, this ARF / 5-A-Day entry (hosted by the ever-wonderful to read, and very healthy Sweetnicks) is a sweet, fruited coffee cake made with a cup of great beer added in! The beer gives it a good depth of flavour without being overbearing. It's nice and healthy, too (ignore the beer, haha), with whole grains, eggs and both dried and pureed fruits. Yes, it's high in carbs, but the whole Atkins phase is gone, and who says we can't indulge ourselves in something sweet once in a while?
Relatives to peaches, apricots are small, golden orange fruits, with velvety skin and flesh, not too juicy but definitely smooth and sweet. Nutrients such as vitamin A also lurk beneath that pretty, fibre-filled skin that promote good vision. Vitamin A is also a powerful antioxidant, quenches free radical damage to cells and tissues. The high beta carotene content and lycopene richness in apricots makes them important heart health foods, too, and great prostate cancer fighters (good for the men that eat this cake, while us ladies are working with Pinktober and Pink Ribbon Day (which I can't believe I forgot to mention yesterday, deadline's on the 15th of October and the details are here!). Both beta-carotene and lycopene also help prevent heart disease, which is the number one killer of American women AND men! (Source: WHFoods)
So go on, and dig in!


Manly Coffee Cake
3/4 cup dried apricots, soaked in hot water, drained and chopped
1 cup flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour (pastry if you have it, regular if not)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp apricot or apple puree
1 cup McAuslan Apricot Wheat Ale (or other fruited beer)


  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Grease and flour a Bundt cake pan.
  3. Sprinkle 1/2 of the apricots along the bottom of the cake pan.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, ginger and salt, set aside.
  5. Beat eggs on high speed until thick and light in color, about 3 to 5 minutes.
  6. Beat in sugar until combined, then add almond and vanilla extracts.
  7. Fold flour mixture into egg and sugar mixture.
  8. Heat beer just until bubbles begin to rise around the edge of the pan. Add fruit puree and remove from heat.
  9. Add batter, stirring gently to combine.
  10. Pour 1/2 the batter into the prepared pan.
  11. Sprinkle 1/2 the remaining apricots over batter.
  12. Top with last of batter.
  13. Sprinkle the chopped apricots over the top of the batter.
  14. Bake 30 minutes. Do not over-bake.
  15. Cool on rack for 10 minutes.
  16. Invert onto a large platter and let cool to room temperature.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 221.8
Total Fat: 2.0 g
Cholesterol: 70.8 mg
Sodium: 23.4 mg
Total Carbs: 46.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 4.9 g

No comments :

Post a Comment

Thanks for the feedback!