Planning a Christmas Brunch? This Candy Cane Coffee Cake goes with almost any main dish and is festive and attractive. The most important thing about it is that it is delicious. The dough is made easily and effortlessly in an automatic bread machine. The filling is a four ingredient concoction that takes about 15 minutes to make and can be made a week or so ahead for convenience.

The coffeecake can be baked ahead, cooled and immediately frozen, then returned to the oven on the day of serving to get the “freshly baked” texture. Decorating is easy – just slather a bit of glaze on the white parts of the candy cane. A bow is added to make it look festive and fancy.

24 Servings

Dough:
1 cup water
2 eggs
1/3 cup dry milk
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast

3 cups Cranberry Orange Filling

Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter
Milk

1. Place the dough ingredients in the order given into the pan of the automatic bread machine; set the machine to the dough setting. Check the dough after about 10 minutes to make sure there is enough liquid or flour to make a soft dough; you may have to scrape the sides down.
2. When the dough is finished, transfer to a lightly floured pastry cloth; divide the dough into 3 pieces.
3. Roll each piece into a rectangle 12" long and 8" wide.
4. Spread with about 1 cup of the filling, roll up like cinnamon rolls and pinch the seam; pinch the ends.






5. Line a baking sheet with parchment or Silpat; place each candy cane on the prepared baking sheet, bending one end to resemble a candy cane.





6. Make slashes with a razor or sharp knife in 1 1/2 inch intervals (this will make the red stripes). Cover the coffee cakes with a towel and let rise until doubled.








7. Preheat oven to 350°.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool thoroughly.









10. FrostingMix the powdered sugar, butter, and enough milk to make a very soft frosting.
11. Spread over the white parts of the coffee cake and finish with a bow.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 215 Calories from Fat 45
Percent Total Calories From: Fat 21% Protein 6% Carb. 73%

Nutrient Amount per Serving
Total Fat 5 g
Saturated Fat 3 g
Cholesterol 30 mg
Sodium 156 mg
Total Carbohydrate 40 g
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sugars 13 g
Protein 3 g

Vitamin A 5% Vitamin C 1% Calcium 0% Iron 2%