This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour.
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Most coffee cake recipes are too sweet, but this Tuscan-inspired Amish Friendship Bread Coffee Cake is a cross between a yeast bread and candied cake, and the result was a whole lot of happiness. There’s just enough sweetness, accented by golden raisins and Calimyrna figs (which are milder in flavor than dates), with a lovely toasted nuttiness from the chopped walnuts. It tastes even better the next day, and was perfect with a warm slab of salted butter and hot cup of coffee. I’m telling you — it was made for your Amish Friendship Bread starter.
It’s super easy to put together, but you have to leave time for the dough to rise. I borrowed my cousin’s Kitchen Aid stand mixer (which I am now seriously in love with — you can find them starting at $199 on Amazon). I have no problem mixing and kneading dough by hand, but I’ll admit that it made dough-handling a zillion times easier. If you have a bread machine, that works great, too. Just set it on the “dough” setting and let it go to town.
Here’s a step-by-step video showing you how I made this Tuscan-inspired coffee cake:
After you mix and knead the dough, let it rise in a covered bowl for an hour. Mine only rose a little bit, but that’s okay–it more than made up for it in the oven.
Next, deflate the dough and knead the fruit and nuts into it. Place it into a lightly greased 9″ round cake pan, cover with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise for another hour (or until it fills the pan to the sides and top).
Preheat the oven to 350° F (177° C). Mix the glaze: sugar, vanilla and water, then drizzle over the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes, tenting the cake pan with foil for the last 10-20 minutes so it doesn’t brown too quickly.
When a toothpick comes out clean, remove the coffee cake from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Turn onto a rack to cool completely. Slice and serve at room temperature.
Tuscan-Inspired Amish Friendship Bread Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
- ⅔ cup water lukewarm
- 2¾ cups flour
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 egg large
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 1 packet)
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- ¾ cup Calimyrna figs chopped
- ¾ cup golden raisins
- 1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped and toasted
Glaze
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- Mix starter, water, flour, butter, egg, sugar, yeast and salt. The dough will be slack but continue mixing and kneading until a smooth, supple dough is formed.
- Place the dough in a bowl and cover. Let the dough rise for one hour.
- Gently punch down the dough and knead in the dried fruit and nuts. Shape dough into a flat ball.
- In a lightly greased 9" round pan, place the dough in the center of the pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for one hour, or until the dough fills the sides and top of the cake pan.
- In the last ten minutes of rise time, preheat the oven to 350° F (177° C).
- Make the glaze and drizzle over the top of the dough.
- Bake on a lower rack for 50-60 minutes, tenting the top with foil for the last 15-20 minutes to prevent over-browning.
- Remove pan from oven and let rest for five minutes, then turn onto a rack to cool.
- Slice the coffee cake once it has cooled completely.
- ENJOY!
>> Have you tried this? Share your best pic with us or leave a comment below and let us know how it worked for you!
This recipe instantly appealed to me because it sounded like it could be similar to a Swedish coffee cake I ate as a child but never was able to find as an adult (true Scandinavian Bakeries don’t seem to exist anymore except in Solvang, CA). My childhood coffee cake was not too sweet, flavored with cardamom and had a texture not quite bread and not cake but somewhere in between.
I followed the recipe but omitted the nuts and figs and added 2 tsp of cardamom. Well I just finished eating my second slice and this is EXACTLY the coffee cake of my childhood and I couldn’t be happier! The texture is perfect, it’s not too sweet and I could eat way too much of it if I’m not careful lol! I’m making more tomorrow and freezing it so I can enjoy a slice everyday. Thank you for this outstanding recipe!
Thanks so much for sharing, Nancy! We’re so glad you were able to recreate the coffee cake of your childhood — it sounds delicious! If you took any pictures of your creation, we’d love to see it, as well! Feel free to share it on our group Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishfriendshipbread/
It was delicious! I used pecans the first time and I am making it again and added candied ginger…Just waiting to see how that tastes!
So glad it turned out, Tina! That sounds delicious!
This Tuscan-inspired Amish Friendship Bread Coffee Cake is right up my alley I love coffee cake, and my fav is pecans inside and a top. Definitely going to try this recipe and share it with my family and neighbors. Thank You!
This one is already on my list to try.
I usually make coffee cakes with struesel or cinnamon sugar toppings. This one looks good, but I’d take out the fruit and change the walnuts for pecans. I love pecans in my baking
To be honest, it’s never been my favorite. But I do make it for the many family members that love it.
I love coffee cake. I don’t drink coffee, but I can eat this just as well with a cup of milk!! We have a pecan tree in our backyard, so every other year when it blooms, most desserts are topped with pecans, coffee cake included.
I love coffee cake. I like lots of crumbs, powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Hmmmm, somehow I missed this one, good thing I checked!
Yes, I would make this, I think it looks gorgeous. But it would have to have different nuts, my kids aren’t fans of walnuts. I probably would also use dried cranberries instead of raisins, I love their tanginess.
I will definitely try this – I love figs and golden raisins! My husband loves coffee cake so this is a win-wind recipe for us! Thank you for posting it!
This looks great for Christmas morning! I can’t wait to try it!
I don’t make a lot of coffee cake, but my husband has a sweet tooth and loves figs, so I plan to give this one a try for Christmas morning.
I usually make cinnamon coffee cake with a struesel topping. Love most things with cinnamon and nuts. Not a fan of raisins. Bought some figs for a recipe I have since misplaced. Think I’ll use them for this!
My husband loves coffee cake, so I will make this for him!
I love coffee cake and especially the traditional brown sugar top. However, I’d love to try this because I like all sorts of topping like nuts and raisins so I’d definitely make this. I would share it with my family.
This recipe looks very appealing. I want to make this to share with my husband’s colleagues.
A great cup of coffee and the Tuscan-inspired Amish Friendship Bread – perfect morning!
Since we are not a raisin or fig fan, I wouldn’t make one for the 4 of us. But I know a few people who would love this!
I don’t bake anything that I wouldn’t eat myself, because an important part of baking is tasting to make sure that it has turned out right. I wouldn’t know if something I find displeasing was right or not. Raisins, figs, and nuts do not belong in baked goods, in my strange, little world inside my head, so this recipe is definitely not my cup of coffee (See what I did there?)!
I love some coffee cakes, though I’ve never tried this fruit and nut combination. My mom and I would probably give it a try, though my husband likes to stick to flavors here already knows.
I have never heard of this kind of figs. I have never baked with figs before, but it looks delicious. I think I would like to try it.I would use pecans. I think i would invite someone to share it with. That way if I don’t like it, maybe they would. Thanks for the recipe.
I do like many coffee cakes but there are so many variations not all fit my palette. My favorite toppings are nuts and cinnamon. This would be great to share with my friend with tea.
I like coffee cake with fruit but I’m not a fan of figs. I’d share it with my husband though.
Sounds good, will have to find the ingredients and make one.
My favorite coffee cake is almond with pecans. This recipe looks delicious and I would share it with friends and family!
This bread looks amazing!
My husband and I love coffee cake with plenty of cinnamon and apples.
Looks delicious!
I love coffee cake with cinnamon, sugar, and nuts topping it. I would try this recipe and share it with my husband and granddaughter.
I’ll stick with American coffee cake, figs and raisins ugh.
Raisins are VERY American. As to figs, I have a tendency to think of them like dates (since they’re often said in the same breath), but I’ve watched enough baking shows to realize they’re not–though I don’t know if I’ve ever had them, or if I could find them in my hometown.
(Speaking of baking shows, I just watched “The Great American Baking Show” last night, and can you believe NOBODY made CR’s for their “cinnamon roll” signature bake? I have a hard time imagining cinnamon rolls without raisins!)
This looks delightful! I think I would love it…raisins and nuts!
I am just not a fan of raisins, so if I made this one, I would double the figs and give it a go! I bet is is good, and I am willing to try. 😀
This looks wonderful!! Can’t wait to make this!!
I think I’ve only had regular coffee cake so far, but if I were to make a special one, I think it would have dried cranberries and white chocolate chips in there somewhere.
My family loves coffee cake for breakfast, I often split the recipe in 1/2 and bake in a smaller pan so it doesn’t go to waste or I bake in 2 pans of a smaller size and freeze one, I’m looking forward to trying this recipe minus the figs.
yes its my favorite of all i love love love it good recipe
This looks delicious! I’ve never thought to put figs in a coffee cake
I am intrigued. I’ve never made a coffee cake. I can wait to try this with my husband
I tend to lean toward sweet coffee cake, mostly fruit. I am not a huge cinnamon fan. This would be yummy with pecans
This coffee cake looks delicious, perfect with a cup of tea on a cold day❄️. I have not baked one in quite awhile, I love that you can use whatever nuts or fruit you have in your pantry.
i love coffee cake with cinnamon, nuts, apple. I like to change up recipes but have not thought of figs. Thank you
I love Coffee Cake but I’m not a fan or raisins. I would make tis but leave out the raisins.
This recipe looks so good, definitely going to try this with pecans as my favorite topping
I don’t think I’ve ever tried a coffee cake but would love this one..with the raisins❤️