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Cream Cheese Bread
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Cream Cheese Filled Coffee Cake

Cream Cheese Filled Coffee Cake or "Cream Cheese Braids" are Danish style coffee cakes filled with a sweet cream cheese mixture. This recipe does not require kneading, but rather an 8 hour stint in the refrigerator.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 30
Author Cookie Madness

Ingredients

Dough

  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • ¼ cup warm water about 110 degrees
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cups bread flour 9 or all-purpose

Filling

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg**
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Icing

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Combine the sour cream, butter, salt and sugar in a small saucepan and heat until butter is melted. Let cool to about 105 degrees F.
  • Combine the yeast and water in a small bowl and let sit until it starts to foam.
  • Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cooled sour cream mixture and the yeast to make a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least 8 hours.
  • Punch down the dough (it probably will not appear to have risen much) and divide it into two parts.
  • Roll each part into a 12- x 8-inch rectangle, and spread each rectangle lengthwise with half the cream cheese filling, leaving a 1-inch border around edges. Carefully roll up, starting at a long side; press seam, and fold ends under to seal. Place, seam side down, onto a parchment lined or greased baking sheet. Cut 6 equally spaced "X"s across top of each loaf; cover (I recommend loosely if at all) and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
  • Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes or until browned. Let cool, then drizzle with icing and serve. If you want the icing to hold its shape and look pretty, I recommend serving at room temperature. I was worried I'd have to warm the bread and deal with melted icing, but the bread actually tastes great at room temperature. If you want to serve it warm, you might consider putting the icing on at the last minute.
  • Icing: Mix all icing ingredients together until smooth. Put the icing in a freezer bag or pastry bag. When loaves are cool, snip off end of icing bag and drizzle it across the loaves. Let set.

Notes

Sorry about the 2 tablespoons of beaten egg. I know a lot of people hate mixing an egg and only using half of it, but it really makes a difference here because the small amount of egg (as opposed to the whole egg) keeps the filling from being too stiff. So 2 tablespoons is the perfect amount. If you end up doubling the recipe you can use the whole egg :).
Another note, I used bread flour and loved the results. The original recipe called for all-purpose.