Overnight Coffee Cake

My sister Trish took this pic. Ain't it festive? 

I owe everything about this recipe to my sister Trish.  She found this gem of a Paula Deen recipe and shared it with the rest of my family.  It's gooey, and caramel-y, and gooey, and buttery, and gooey.  Did I mention it's gooey? Seriously, this is the coffee cake to make all other coffee cakes swoon.  It's sort of a cross between cinnamon rolls and monkey bread, and yet it's better than either of those. 

The best part of this recipe is that it is incredibly easy to make.  You assemble the ingredients the night before without breaking a sweat, and let it rise overnight.  The  next morning, you simply stumble out of bed, pour yourself some coffee (Important:  Do NOT skip the coffee step), preheat the oven, and bake the coffee cake. 

I can't rave enough about how this is the perfect balance between decadent treat and amazingly simple.  Your family and friends will assume you slaved over it, but you'll know that it took mere minutes.  That is, of course, until they ask you for the recipe.  But do everyone a favor and share the recipe.  You never know when someone will make this for you out of sheer gratitude. 

I will be serving this on Christmas morning in my house.  It's the perfect holiday splurge.  That's right, I said SPLURGE. Don't think for a minute that this is a "light" recipe.  It's a real, honest-to-goodness, lip-smacking holiday recipe that you pull out for special occasions.  I fully believe that in order to maintain a healthy eating plan, you need to indulge.  It will keep you sane and you'll be glad you did! 

In the words of my sister when she emailed me the pictures, "I want coffee cake." 


Coffee Cake
Serves: 6-8


Ingredients:

• 16-18 unbaked frozen dinner rolls (I usually have to buy two packages of rolls and end up with extra left over.  Use 'em for dinner.)
• 1 package (3 ounces) butterscotch pudding mix (NOT INSTANT)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (My sister adds "an extra dollop or so" of brown sugar to maximize the goo factor)
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted (My sister adds an extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter, also to maximize the goo factor)

1. Assemble the coffee cake the night before you want to bake and serve it.
2. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. 
3. Sprinkle the pecans over the bottom of the pan.  (This is my sister's trick.  This way the pecans end up on top when you unmold the cake.)
4. Place the frozen rolls over the pecans in the bundt pan. 
5. Sprinkle dry pudding mix over the rolls. 
6. Sprinkle brown sugar over the pudding mix-covered rolls.
7. Pour melted butter over everything.
8. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, in order to keep a tough crust from forming on the dough.
9. Let the dough rise overnight (8-10 hours) at room temperature.    
10. The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
11. You may find that the rolls have risen above the sides of the bundt pan.  No problem.  Continue as usual.
12. Bake the coffee cake for 30 minutes.  I like to put the bundt pan on a cookie sheet, just in case any of the luscious goo escapes from the pan. 
13. Take the cake out of the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes to cool a bit. That goo is hot, hot, hot!
14. Carefully turn the coffee cake out onto a serving platter.
15. The best way to serve it is to greedily pull it apart, chunk by chunk.
16. Enjoy.  

This recipe adapted from Paula Deen's Ultimate Coffee Cake.