Thanks to Laurie of slush (where you will find the recipes) for her Tuesdays with Dorie picks of not one, but two recipes this week to celebrate the Second Anniversary of the group: Tarte Tatin, found on pages 312-313 and Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake, found on pages 256-257 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours cookbook.
Laurie is the founder of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group and you can read more about that at the TWD blogroll site's link at the end of this post. When selecting the recipes, Laurie had the bakers all give their ideas, narrowed it down to several choices, and then we could all vote on the final selection. Laurie then picked the top two recipes with the most votes. Each baker could select the recipe she/he wanted to make this week. Or, some bakers, like myself, made both!
I first made the cake as I figured I wouldn't have too much trouble with that one and it could be the only one I made if I messed up on the Tarte Tatin. The guys here, however, are not very big cake eaters for some reason. I can never seem to get rid of a whole cake...they will eat one piece enthusiastically and then it's either gifting or garbage. Gifting one of Dorie's desserts is usually fairly easy.
In light of this, I used my little 6" pans and made half a recipe. These little cakes are just so small and cute...and much easier to dispose of as the size makes them go quickly. (Please note that I cannot swirl frosting, so I just decided to give this one a spiked look instead. Guys appreciate things like that more than swirls.)
I made everything, cake and accompanying icing recipe, exactly as written, except of course, divided the cake batter ingredients by half for the smaller pans, and using 3/4 of the icing recipe as even though it is only half a cake, you still need more than half the icing to go around it. (Tip I learned this year from my fellow TWD bakers.)
Two kinds of chocolate in the cake, two kinds of chocolate in the icing. A whole lot of chocolate. The guys really enjoyed it...the frosting has malt powder also, so according to them, it tasted like chocolate malt balls, which was a very good thing. It ranked high on the list of favorites.
The Tarte Tatin was delicious. Not a drop of chocolate anywhere in it. Apples, caramelized sugar, and Dorie's sweet tart dough crust and you have yourself a tart in no time.
I did make one change and that was to cut the apples into slices rather than leaving them in large half-size portions that would require a knife to cut while eating it. It's just me, I have a thing about knives not being appropriate for desserts at the table, that one should not have to work slicing and sawing away at a dessert after a meal. Desserts should be fork and spoon only: a more gentle and quiet time of the meal, something to sit back and enjoy at leisure. Okay, it's a thing with me, you don't have to agree. I did, however, slice the apples so they would be fork friendly without any need to slice the apples during the dessert eating. It worked out nicely and looked lovely.
I like fruit desserts best, and the flavor of caramel with baked apples is way, way, too appealing, so I made only a half size of this one as well, knowing the guys could put it away in an evening after I had a nice piece for myself.
Absolutely wonderful, easy, and definitely ranked very high on the list of favorites.
Laurie and many of the bakers have been pursuing this adventure of baking their way weekly through this huge book of Dorie's for two years now. I joined after the first four months of it, so I have only been doing it for 20 months instead of 24. Have learned much about baking and making all sorts of things I never thought I would bake in that time. Still find myself saying, "Well, I don't really know how to bake, I am still just learning." As Laurie is fond of saying, "Bake on!"
Next week: Teanna from Spork or Foon? has chosen Mrs. Vogel's Scherben, found on pages 157-159. TWD blogroll found here.