Enjoy the rich flavor of Morning Glory Scone Cake. Full of healthful ingredients such as shredded carrots, apples, coconut, and golden raisins.
Perfect with a cup of coffee or as a little pick-me-up snack in the afternoon.
Kiddos
In my day job, I am a cooking class instructor for elementary school-aged children. Each day, after school, I have 12 eager students who make the week's recipe which they can share with their families.
When they are dismissed from their classrooms to me, I am peppered with questions and comments - What are we going to make today? What's that? Can we make cupcakes? Do I have to have (name the ingredient)? My Mom makes that! It is good? I often get a leery look or two if the recipe name is a bit unusual.
I choose recipes that can be adapted so that they are age-appropriate for the students. Timing is important. There is the consideration of cooking fatigue. The students have been in the building for 7 hours. It is an exercise in futility if a recipe is too long or involved. I will lose them.
But I will also lose them if the ingredients are unfamiliar. In the years that I have been teaching this class, I have come to realize that I need to be flexible. If someone doesn't like A, B, or C in a recipe, then I can't insist they include that ingredient. I need to maintain trust with the students. As they like to say now, "That's sus!" If I force an ingredient on them, while I will win the battle, I certainly will lose the war.
Adaptation
We switch each week from savory to sweet and then back to savory. This past week featured a sweet recipe. I had the idea of making scones. Years ago we made lemon buttermilk scones, which were a big hit. But I like to change things up so we don't repeat any recipes. I played with my scone recipe, keeping the basic structure but including ingredients to add sweetness, texture, and flavor.
Morning Glory Scone Cake is the result. Why a scone cake? The dough is wet, too wet to handle with your hands. And why not a cake? While the scones aren't the traditional triangular shape, the cake has a lovely crisp top and just the right amount of sweetness.
Smush
Smush - a technical term for mixing in the butter. This is a hands-on procedure that is a big hit in class. Using your hands, smash cubed butter between your thumb and forefinger into the flour. I find this procedure to be therapeutic, calming.
There are other methods. You can use a pastry blender to incorporate the butter. You can also shred cold butter using a box grater. But the end result should be the same. The butter should still be somewhat visible. You can still see small pieces. The flour will feel and appear sandy.
Shreds
Like a traditional morning glory muffin, this recipe features shredded carrot, apple, and coconut. It is fine to use pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store. I used a box grater to shred the Granny Smith apple, peel and all. I like to see a little peek of that distinctive green color in the dough.
All of these ingredients add their own particular flavor to the scone dough. There is the tartness of the apple, the sweetness of the coconut, the earthiness of the carrots along with the roasty pecans, and the syrupy golden raisins.
Toss the ingredients lightly in the flour. You are coating every individual strand. Make sure the apple shreds are not sticking together in clumps.
Wet ingredients
The wet ingredients - buttermilk, orange juice, and vanilla extract are combined. Pour the combination into the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, mix just until all the flour is combined. Then stop. Overmixing the dough will cause the scones to be tough. Now you may notice this is a wet dough. This is why it is a scone cake. Much easier to put it into a pan.
Sprinkle the top with a couple of tablespoons of raw sugar. It adds a perfect crunch. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 40-45 minutes.
Pick-Me-Up
Do you get a late afternoon energy lag? You need a little something to perk you up. A slice of Morning Glory Scone Cake is the answer. Maybe you need a little bite with a cup of coffee? Here is your little bite.
One of my favorite parts of teaching this class to students is hearing the day after about how good their food was, that they ate it for breakfast or brought it to school for lunch. Morning Glory Scone Cake was a big hit! Trust the Ten Pound Cake Company students and try it for yourself.
Another baked good perfect with a cup of coffee - https://tenpoundcakecompany.com/buttermilk-banana-bread
Recipe
Morning Glory Scone Cake
Equipment
- 1 8x8 pan
- 2 pieces of parchment paper cut to fit 8x8 pan
- 1 medium mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (9.4 ounces/264 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (3.4 ounces/95 grams)
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (4 ounces/56 grams)
- ½ cup chopped pecans (1.9 ounces/53 grams)
- ½ cup shredded carrots (1.7 ounces/48 grams)
- ½ cup shredded coconut (1.9 ounces/53 grams)
- ½ cup shredded Granny Smith apple (2.7 ounces/77 grams)
- ½ cup golden raisins (2.6 ounces/73 grams)
- ¾ cup buttermilk (177ml)
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup heavy cream (79 ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °
- Line an 8x8 baking pan with two pieces of parchment. Crisscross the parchment paper to create a sling that will be used to remove the cake from the pan.
- Mix dry ingredients - flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and ground ginger. Make sure the brown sugar is completely distributed in the flour.
- Cut butter into small cubes and add to the dry ingredients, tossing to coat.
- Smush the butter between your fingers into the flour. The dry ingredients will look sandy with small pieces of butter. You can use a pastry blender if you prefer. Another option is to shred cold butter using a box grater.
- Add the pecans, carrots, coconut, apple, and raisins to the dry ingredients. Toss the ingredients to cover with flour. Make sure the apples are not in big clumps. Just don't overwork the dough. It should be very loose like flour.
- Combine the buttermilk, orange juice, and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
- Use a spatula to combine the ingredients. Make sure that all the flour is incorporated.
- Once all the dry ingredients are mixed with the wet ingredients, stop. You do not want to overwork the batter otherwise the scone cake will be tough.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan. Spread the batter until it is a consistent level in the pan.
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with raw sugar.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes
- While the scone cake is baking, make the cream cheese glaze.
- Mix the cream cheese and the powdered sugar. Add the heavy cream, mixing until combined.
- After 45 minutes, remove the cake from the pan. The top will be golden brown and the center of the cake will feel firm. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
- Drizzle the cream cheese glaze on top of the cake. Cut into 9 pieces.
Nutrition
Leave a Reply