Fantastic Coffee Cake Recipe For Orange Cream Cheese Braid

When you need to bring a dessert to a party, turn to this excellent coffee cake recipe. You save time by using a couple cups of a commercial quick baking mix, but you do not sacrifice any flavor. The braided look that you create by folding over the strips of dough results in an attractive cake that looks much more difficult to create than it actually was. With beauty and good taste, this orange cream cheese coffee cake makes friends in all social situations.

You will need:
 
1 3-ounce package cream cheese
1/4 cup firm margarine or butter
2-1/2 cups baking mix, like Bisquik, Jiffy, or homemade biscuit dry ingredients.
1/2 cup orange juice
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup orange marmalade
 
Preheat the oven for 400 degrees F and have a large cookie sheet ready. Measure out the baking mix and then cut the 3-ounce package of cream cheese and 1/4 cup of margarine or butter into the baking mix. Use a pastry cutter or electric mixer to do this. Next add the orange juice to the baking mix and stir until dough forms. Then empty dough onto surface dusted with baking mix and knead about 10 times. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is approximately a rectangle of 15 x 9 inches. Place dough rectangle onto large cookie sheet.
 
For the filling, mix the soft 8-ounce package of cream cheese with the marmalade until it is well blended and has nice smooth consistency. Spread this filling down the center of the dough rectangle leaving at least 2 to 3 inches of uncovered dough on each long side of the rectangle. Then cut lines 1 inch apart through the bare dough along the long sides of the dough rectangle perpendicular to the filling. Fold these 1-inch strips of dough over the filling, overlapping each strip with a strip from the other side of the dough. The effect will be that you are covering the filling with a braid of dough. Pinch shut the ends of the braid so everything is sealed up.
 
Bake the coffee cake for about 20 minutes until it is golden brown. Cool the coffee cake completely. Then you are ready to drizzle with a chocolate glaze made of:
 
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 teaspoons of milk.
 
Stir these glaze ingredients together thoroughly until they are smooth and runny.
 
This coffee cake is best the first day, as is the case for most coffee cakes, but remains quite delicious if you have leftovers. Be sure to put leftovers in the refrigerator because the cream cheese filling should not stay out at room temperature for an extended period.