B'day special - Pluot kuchen (coffee cake)

We found some pluots at the Farmer's market and curious to try the plum-apricot > plumcot > pluot hybrid, we bought them home for cake. It was a treat! and they acquired a mild rose essency flavor the next day. My senses might have been effected by the ginormous roses Dad sent :)

Lessons learnt - Next time i make this, I will combine dark skinned plums as well to add more color into the cake like Deb does in her successful attempt. My cake, even though delicious, turned quite pale on the top.

Warning - With prep and rising times, it takes about 4 hours to make this cake.

Makes 9 servings - I cut mine into 9 squares

1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105-110 deg. F)

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar > I don't like my desserts too sweet so this was perfect. V would have liked to add more sugar.

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup whole milk yogurt

1 egg at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp lime zest

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 sticks of butter at room temperature

2 medium sized pluots

Stir yeast into warm water and let sit for 5 minutes until it turns foamy. Mine turned foamy on the third try. First time, water was too hot and the second time yeast was dead. Apparently, its fairly common to get dead yeast in dry packets. So have extra packets on hand.

Mix together flour, 2/3 cups of sugar, salt, yogurt, egg, zest, vanilla and yeast solution at a medium-low speed (1-2 level on the kitchenaid hand mixer) until incorporated. Takes about a minute. Now add in 1 stick of butter, 1 tbsp at a time until each tbsp is completely mixed in. The flour mixture begin to become shiny and very sticky. This will take about 5 mins. Now sprinkle the dough with 2 tbsps of flour. Cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel/plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it doubles in a draft free, warm room for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I left mine in the microwave - enclosed and safe from bugs.

Spread 2 tbsps of butter in a 8" square baking pan and sprink with 1/3 cups of sugar. Cut each pluot into 6-7 slices and arrange in one layer in the pan.

Stir dough to incorporate the flour and then spread evenly over the pluots. Loosely cover with a buttered wax paper (or plastic wrap), then kitchen towel. Again, let rise for another 1 1/2 hours until dough has almost doubled.

Preheat oven to 375 deg. with rack in the middle. Bake until kuchen is golden-brown and a wooden pick insterted in the cake comes out clean. About 30 - 35 mins. Cool pan for about 5 minutes, then invert cake into a plate and let cool completely.

Serve with additional yogurt.

Source: Smitten kitchen