Polish Placek z Kruszonka: Coffee Cake Recipe

Written by
Barbara Rolek
Barbara Rolek is a former chef who became a cooking school instructor and award-winning food writer.
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Barbara Rolek
Updated 03/24/21
Coffee cake
ChelseaWa / Wikimedia Commons and Flickr / CC-BY-SA-2.0
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 50 mins
Total: 70 mins
Servings: 24 servings
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
160 Calories
7g Fat
23g Carbs
2g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 24
Amount per serving
Calories 160
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7g 10%
Saturated Fat 4g 21%
Cholesterol 17mg 6%
Sodium 127mg 6%
Total Carbohydrate 23g 8%
Dietary Fiber 1g 5%
Protein 2g
Calcium 39mg 3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Learn how to make Polish coffee cake or placek z kruszonka, a simple, sweet yeast-raised cake with a crumb topping. This dish requires a fair amount of elbow grease and hard work; if you have a strong arm and wrists, try making this by hand. Otherwise, a stand mixer will do nicely.

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Ingredients

  • For the Dough:
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 ounces butter (1 stick, softened)
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 2 (1/4-ounce) packages active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 5 large eggs (beaten with the salt)
  • 6 cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • Optional: 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • Optional: 1 1/2 cups raisins (dark)
  • For the Topping:
  • 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 8 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 tablespoons butter

Steps to Make It

  1. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl or stand mixer. Scald the milk and pour it into the bowl with sugar and butter. Stir until butter is completely melted. Let cool to 110 F.

  2. Add yeast and mix well.

  3. Add egg-salt mixture and half the flour, stirring constantly.

  4. Add the vanilla and raisins, if using, and mix well.

  5. Add the remaining flour and mix well. The dough will be sticky.

  6. Turn out into a greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled.

  7. Grease two (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans and make the crumb topping in a medium bowl by combining flour and sugar, and cutting in the butter with your fingers. Set aside.

  8. Using slightly dampened hands, punch down dough and divide it in half.

  9. Place in prepared pans. Sprinkle half the crumb topping on each cake. Place on a baking sheet to catch any crumbs that fall off while baking, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise until dough mounds slightly over the top.

  10. Heat oven to 300 F and bake for 50 minutes or until the instant-read thermometer registers 190 F.

  11. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes.

  12. Then turn out and cool coffee cakes completely on their side on a wire rack.