This Greek coffee cake recipe is a wonderfully comforting, fruit-filled treasure as a snack or dessert!

Note: this is an adaptation of a recipe found in the cookbook, Hellenic Cuisine: A Collection of Greek Recipes, published by St. Helen’s Philoptochos Society and Sts. Constantine and Helen Parent-Teacher Association.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of flour
• 6 slightly beaten egg yolks
• 2 cakes of yeast
• 1 tablespoon of sugar for the yeast mixture
• 6 stiffly beaten egg whites
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg yolk for the glaze
• ½ lb. of butter
• ½ cup of orange juice
• ½ cup of hot milk
• 2 jars (1 lb. each) of apricot preserves

Directions:

1. Scald ½ cup of milk, then cool to lukewarm, adding in the two crumbled cakes of yeast and one tablespoon of sugar. Place this mixture in a 2-cup measuring container (or small bowl) and let it rise to the top/rim.
2. Meanwhile, sift the flour in a large mixing bowl, adding in the crumbled butter and mixing it all together until it reaches the consistency of cornmeal.
3. Add in 6 slightly beaten egg yolks, the ½ cup of orange juice, and the risen yeast mixture.
4. This mixture should now be a light dough, which should be lightly handled and kneaded until the ingredients are thoroughly blended and the mixture cleanly leaves the bowl.
5. Sprinkle flour on a board or chosen clean flat surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape, and cut it into four pieces before setting it aside.
6. Add the sugar to the stiffly beaten egg whites.
7. Take one of the pieces of dough and roll it out just large enough to fit in a greased 10×15” pan. Trim the dough so that the edges are about to ¼” up the sides of the pan.
8. Take half of the egg white and sugar mixture and spread it evenly over this dough.
9. Take a second piece of dough, roll it out, and fit it over the previous layer, evenly spreading the two jars of apricot preserves over the entire surface.
10. Roll out the third piece of dough and place it over the apricot preserves layer.
11. Spread the other half of the sugar and egg whites mixture evenly on top of this third piece of dough.
12. Roll out the fourth and final piece of dough and cover the sugar and egg whites mixture.
13. Slightly beat 1 egg yolk and brush it over the entire surface of this fourth dough piece.
14. Lay the now-assembled cake aside for 30 minutes so that it can rise.
15. Bake it at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour, then allow it to cool before cutting it into diamond-shaped pieces.

Please note that all Fabulous Freelancer posts might contain affiliate links.