I am slightly late posting this week, mostly because I didn’t get the cake made until yesterday. The recipe was fairly easy and I baked it as specified, etc. The only changes I made were to replace the Armagnac with rum because I had rum (still working on that original bottle from Rum Guy) and I didn’t chop the chocolate, just proceeded right to the melting stage instead. (Why is it that the directions always have us chopping the chocolate before melting it? Anyone?) Okay, so what happened here (see photo)? Well, it’s like this…I had a lot going on, cooking numerous things at the same time, was a tad distracted, and misread the directions about cooling the cake in the pan, mistaking two minutes for ten minutes. Apparently taking the cake out of the pan at two minutes was not a good idea…it all fell apart. I just sort of smooshed it back together and thought, “Oh, well, the glaze will cover some of it and I’m pretty sure the guys are going to eat this no matter what it LOOKS like. I was right…it would not win any beauty prizes, but it was, according to them, “absolutely excellent and delicious and you can make this any time.” The next time, however, I will wait the ten minutes before removing the pan. The glaze helped cover a multitude of sins, but the amount specified in the book did not completely cover the cake…I ran a little short as you can see in the photo…however, I will try this same amount again next time as it might be just short due to falling in the cracks and crevices of the smooshed together parts. Only one tester in today’s photos because Matt was at church serving for Benediction and Mark could not wait for him to return to cut into the cake. Next week's recipe was chosen by Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles and is Lemon Cup Custard, and can be found on page 387. This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is Chocolate Armagnac Cake: The Cake That Got Me Fired, can be found on pages 279-281, and was chosen by LyB of And Then I Do The Dishes. If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on LyB's site above and she will have it posted. If you want to see why this cake got Dorie fired from a job, you will need to buy the book and read all about it.
I think he asked me about ten times if he could “finally have some of the cake?” He looked so pitiful standing there with his fork and all, that I sliced him a piece before Matt returned home. I’m not sure which he enjoyed more actually, the cake or the Northwestern win over Purdue, but I do know he liked the cake an awful lot.
Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest. It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen. See you there!