Happy Valentine’s Day! Words that make me think chocolate. Words that make me salivate for chocolate if you must know. That said, I’m not one to be hung up on a fancy box-o-chocolates. A batch of simple homemade chocolaty goodness in the form of cookies or brownies can outshine the most glorious box of chocolates if delivered with the simple sentiment of, “I made these especially for you.”

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops are the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe this week. Not the most enticing name, but I was motivated to whip them up one evening when a cookie craving hit and after glancing at the recipe I realized they would be a as quick to make as a batch of brownies. Turns out they are essentially brownies with rolled oats mixed in and baked as drop cookies. Clever!

The texture is soft with a rich chocolaty flavor from both cocoa powder and melted chocolate. Definately a recipe that will be exploited in the form of ice cream sandwiches once the weather warms. I preferred the cookies once completely cooled and found them to be even better the next day, so there’s no need to feel pressured to eat them all at once. 

The darker the chocolate the better in my opinion; it’s a tragedy when sugar trounces all over the rich complex flavors of chocolate reducing it to the mundane of simply being sweet.  To add an additional hit of flavor compelxity, I sprinkled a few flakes of Murray River Flake Salt on each cookie before they hit the oven. A move I use with nearly all cookies I bake.

Deep Chocolate Brownies

If you prefer a classic brownie, well classic with a little twist of spice, my brownie recipe is a snap to put together and would make any Valentine happy. I hope you realize that, “I made these especially for you,” works on yourself too! There is plenty of time left in the day to whip up a little treat to spoil yourself or someone you love on this Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Thank you to Caroline and Clair of Bake with Us for selecting such a chocolaty choice for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

Recipe Links:

• Oatmeal Chocolate Drops
• Deep Chocolate Brownies

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This week the Tuesday’s with Dorie group is playing with more cranberries. The two most quintessential November ingredients to me are winter squash and cranberries. They bookend the month; pumpkins show up in full-force for Halloween and cranberries seal the deal as the crown jewel of the Thanksgiving table. Sadly, the last week of November feels like a lost cause, dominated by Christmas, it might as well be rolled into December. 

Cranberry Lime Galette

I’m thouroughly enjoying November right along with this Cranberry Lime Galette (gah-LEHT). A galette is basically a free-form rustic pie and both sweet and savory fillings are common. This one is definitely sweet, but the cranberries aren’t sugared into submission. Rather they hit your mouth with a puckery tang that is carefully tempered by sweetness and softened by the rich buttery crust. The dueling taste of floral and bitter linger from the lime zest while ginger pipes in with just a touch of heat. If your taste buds have been bored, jolt them back to life with a slice of this.  

Cranberry Lime Galette

Snuggled in with the fresh cranberries are dried cranberries and fresh apple. Additionally, ground nuts and a touch of breadcrumbs add body and help to thicken the filling. As is often the case, I didn’t have a few of the called-for ingredients. I used dried figs rather than dried cranberries which worked really well, but the pear I substituted for the apple turned out to be a weak point. Once cooked, it was so soft it got lost in the filling. Next time I’ll go to the store for a nice crisp apple that will hold up during cooking, something along the lines of Cameo, Honey Crisp, Empire, Jonathan, Fuji, Rome, or any other apple that isn’t likely to be reduced to mush when exposed to the toasty oven environment. Next time I will also just do a rough chop on the nuts rather than mincing them down to a fine texture. I think the added crunch and more prominent flavor would complement the cranberries. 

Galette ingredients

In addition to my convenience-motivated substitutions, I added a little spice just for the fun and flavor of it. The filling was spiked with ½ teaspoon of freshly ground allspice and I also mixed a bit of allspice with sugar for dusting the crust. Allspice combines the flavor and aroma of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, along with a peppery note in one handy little berry. Check out our Spice Library to learn more about this magnificent spice. 

Grinding allspice berries

As luck would have it, I had a pie crust in the freezer ready and waiting. So rather than make Dorie’s Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough, I used my pie crust made with butter and some spectacularly decadent Mangalitsa lard I rendered. The sisters that write Celestial Confections, chose this week’s recipe and have posted the recipe for the Cranberry Lime Galette as well as Dorie’s crust. The link at the end of my post will take you there. 

Cranberry Lime Galette

Though a galette boasts the rustic, hand-made look, it still requires rolling out pastry dough. Don’t let this dissuade you from making home-made crusts. On a side note, when making pie dough, if you have a food processor, use it. When rolling out dough, give it enough time in the fridge to become well chilled. Then place it on a lightly floured work surface and roll from the center to 12:00. Spin the dough ¼ turn and roll again from the center to 12:00. Repeat the rolling and spinning adding a dusting of flour on or under the dough as needed if it starts to stick. I find a bench scraper to be invaluable in this process. A large spatula will work as well. Slide the blade under the dough to release it from the work surface if it sticks between rolls. Then spin the dough a quarter turn and toss a little more flour down. Before you know it you will have a nice big round of dough ready to be filled. 

French rolling pin and bench scraper

I use a straight French rolling pin. Gale Gand mentioned this was her favorite style of pin on her Food Network show, Sweet Dreams, back in the day. I bought one and love it. Tapered wood pins are another popular style of French rolling pins, but I’ve not had the chance to try one so I can’t tell you how they compare. 

In all of my enthusiasm to get the dough filled and in the oven, it wasn’t until assembly was complete that I noticed a most unfortunate oversight. 

Ready for the oven - not so fast...

See the little bowl of what looks like it might be crumb topping? It’s actually the breadcrumb mixture that was supposed to have been spread on the dough before adding the fruit. Damn. What folds up, unfolds, so I carefully unfolded the dough, scooped up the filling, spread the breadcrumbs and then put it back together. The galette was no worse for the wear and into the oven it went. 

If you are looking for a slightly less obvious pie for Thanksgiving embrace the punchy-tartness of cranberries and give this Cranberry Lime Galette a try. Just save yourself some grief and remember to put the breadcrumbs in before you get it all assembled! 

Recipe Links 

• Cranberry Lime Galette and Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough

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Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 152 recipes completed 69 to go!

Tuesdays roll around every week like clockwork and I’ve been doing my Tuesday’s with Dorie baking like clockwork, but failing miserably at getting my posts up to share the results. I declare this to be the post that gets me back on track.

First fresh cranberries of the season

The Not-Just-for-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake recipe was selected by Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen, and features the most glamorous of seasonal ingredients – glistening ruby-red cranberries. Purchasing fresh cranberries when they hit the market each year always evokes feelings of celebration, excitement and the shocking realization that there’s only two months left in the year. At least it’s two months filled with fresh cranberries.

Why I was surprised that this cake actually tasted like shortbread, I’m not sure. The name of the recipe kind of gives it away. It’s just that the dough was more like a cookie dough rather than cake or biscuit so I braced for the unknown. Then, surprise, it tasted just like a little shortcake but with a sweet-tart cranberry twist.

Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake

I baked my cake square to make it easier to cut into bite-sized party pieces. Referencing my high school geometry, I knew an 8″ square pan is roughly the same area as the recommended 9″ round pan. One of the reasons David is great is when I ask him what pi is, he responds 3.1415926. I can never remember past 3.14.

SpiceCare Spice Containers

My spices found their way into this cake even though the recipe didn’t have them on the party list. I added ½ tsp. of ginger powder to the cake portion and added ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. ginger powder, and a handful of chopped pecans to the sugar dusting over the top of the cake. The cranberries didn’t escape untouched because they just take spice so well. I present my Spiced Cranberry Sauce as evidence. In addition to a couple of tablespoons of chopped crystallized ginger I tossed in ½ tsp. of cinnamon and ½ tsp. of overgrind. Overgrind? Ah, my clever catch-all mix of whatever is left over after grinding whole spices. I keep a SpiceCare container labeled as such and anytime I end up with an extra pinch of clove, smidgen of cardamom, dash of allspice, pepper, coriander, or nutmeg, it gets tossed in my Overgrind Mix. I limit the mix to spices that get along well together, which is most of the sweet spices and a few select savories. Often I’ll keep a separate savory overgrind container going as well. I dip into it for an instant flavor kick for pancakes, quick breads, cookies, or whatever seems like it could use a little something extra. It’s fun because the mix is never the same, but it’s always good.

Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake Bites

The thick cranberry center took a long time to cool, but finally I was able to cut them into little bite-sized portions perfect for sharing at a pot luck, or not. After getting my first taste I changed my plans and kept them home. I didn’t want to share, they were too good!  Nothing like starting out the holiday season with a stingy self-centered move. I did share some of my precious little cakes with a few friends the next day, but just couldn’t give them up for the pot luck table.  These make a great holiday cookie, but if you’re planning to take them to a party I would advise having a box of Oreos or something on hand as a back-up plan in case you realize it would be best to leave the Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake at home.

Recipe Link

• Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake

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Biting into a fresh ripe peach is one of the most exquisite food experiences. The smooth juicy texture of the fruit is both lusciously soft and satisfyingly toothsome; a balance that seems contradictory but is somehow captured inside this beautiful delicate package.

A fresh ripe peach offers just enough toothy resistance to make each bite noticeable. As though it’s a signal to pay attention to the moment, to this perfectly ripe sweet juicy fruit that is here now and will soon be gone again for 11 months.

It’s not elegant, but my favorite way to eat a fresh peach is peeled, halved, and out of hand while standing at the kitchen sink letting the juice run down my arm. It’s a full-concentration kind of food. Let me be while I eat my peach.

I love eating fresh ripe peaches so much that I find it hard to cook with them. I like peach dishes, I just don’t ever want to give up my stash of fresh peaches to make a recipe. I did pony up three peaches for this week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie recipe to make the Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart. I’ll admit to it being a good use of peaches.

The fresh peaches are simply sliced and fanned out over a pre-baked shell that is then flooded with custard and topped with a crumb topping. I was skeptical of the crumb topping, fearful it would ruin a good thing, but it truly enhanced the tart. What made the topping successful is that it was sparse so it didn’t create a solid crust of sugar, and it had almonds in it. They added the perfect crunch and flavor to complement the peaches.

This tart is wonderful. The soft peaches and custard filling are sweet and creamy which is especially good when matched with a crisp shortbread-like crust. Though I am stingy with fresh peaches, I would actually consider doubling them in this tart. They were so good I wanted more of them in each bite. Rachel of Sweet Tarte gets full credit for motivating me to cook with my prized fresh peaches.

I have recently discovered using lavender leaves rather than just lavender flowers in dishes and decided to add some to the crust. Tasting the leaves and flowers side by side, the leaves have a nice lavender flavor, but don’t have the bitter finish that the flowers do. I added a tablespoon of chopped leaves to the dry ingredients. Once the crust was cooked, the flavor was very subtle, almost too subtle. I think the flowers have a little more punch and I will try using a mix of both next time. The combination of peaches and lavender is lovely and subtle is always the better way to go with a lavender experiment because it’s all too easy to end up with something that tastes like potpourri or bath soap.

Rachel got me on a bit of a roll and I decided to make a small batch of jam as well. Sticking with the peach lavender theme I used the lavender leaves again. They give the jam a nice herby note but in such a subtle way it’s difficult to pinpoint that it’s lavender.

This recipe only makes about 1 ½ cups so I just put it in the refrigerator to enjoy right away rather than bothering to can it for future consumption. There is something to be said for making a quick and simple spur-of-the-moment batch of jam. Don’t think I don’t enjoy canning. I have a pantry shelf loaded with jam I’ve made this summer. As a result, all my canning jars have been filled and I didn’t have a single spare to use for this jam, so it became a make-and-eat batch.

Peach Lavender Jam

1 pound of fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
¼ ounce fresh lavender stems with leaves, tied into a bundle
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
7 ounces (1 cup) granulated sugar

Place a small plate in the refrigerator to have chilled for testing the set of the jam.

Place the peaches, lavender, lemon zest and juice in a 3 qt. heavy-bottom sauce pan. Over medium-low heat, let the peaches cook for about 15 minutes to become very soft and release their juice. Stir frequently to prevent burning and lower the heat if necessary. As the peaches soften, mash them with the back of a spoon. Muddle the lavender bundle with the spoon as well to release the flavor of the herb.

Once the peaches have broken down and cooked for 15 minutes, reduce the heat and stir in the sugar. After the sugar is completely dissolved, increase the heat to medium-high and bring the jam to a boil for 5 minutes.

Place a small dollop of jam on the chilled plate and put it in the refrigerator for a minute or two. To check for setting, push one edge of the jam toward the center of the dollop, if the surface wrinkles, the jam is set and can be removed from the heat, if not, continue to cook and re-test every few minutes. Transfer jam to a clean jar and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy within 1 – 2 weeks.

Recipe link

• Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

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Mid August seems like the perfect time to spin up a batch of homemade ice cream. Sunny warm lazy days and ice cream go hand-in-hand.

In the Northwest we’ve been reading about sunny warm days, but haven’t actually been experiencing them. Not terribly motivated for ice cream with our chilly summer, I put off making this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe until the last minute. Guess what? The sun finally came out for the first time in nearly a week.

This weekend is supposed to be in the mid-80s and the anticipation of true summer weather is very exciting. I believe I’ll be mixing up another batch of this ice cream because I don’t think what’s in the freezer will last to the weekend.

My “ice cream” is actually frozen yogurt. I had yogurt in the fridge, but no cream, so I thought I’d give it a try. I essentially down-shifted the fat by using whole milk in place of the cream and plain low-fat yogurt in place of the milk. It’s tangy, chocolaty, and wonderful. I like the lighter ice-milk like quality and the tangy zing of the yogurt is refreshing. The texture isn’t creamy smooth, which could be a result of the lower fat or the cocoa powder, or the combination of the two. It’s not off-putting by any means, but curious. I’ll have to try a vanilla version of the recipe and see what happens. Fearing the tanginess of the yogurt would overpower the chocolate, I added 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder as a little boost and the cocoa-forward flavor takes me right back to one of my favorite childhood frozen treats – a fudgesicle.

Because the yogurt was so tangy I increased the sugar from 1/3 cup to ½ cup. The only other minor tweaks were adding a pinch of salt and ½ teaspoon of vanilla.

Katrina of Baking and Boys has the full recipe posted on her blog and she gets a big thank you from me for picking ice cream for this week. I make ice cream and the sun comes out, how is that for positive reinforcement? And a brilliant example of flawed logic, but I’ll still enjoy a scoop while sitting in the sun today.

Recipe link

• Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

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These soft cakey cookies packed full of goodies are reminiscent of carrot cake, so I took the obvious next step and filled them with cream cheese frosting.

As is so often the case, I made this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe with what I had on hand. Dried cranberries stood in for raisins and the sweetened coconut was replaced with unsweetened. The cranberries go beautifully with the carrots and the added tartness is a good thing given the extra sugar hit from the filling and icing.

How is it that I’ve never thought to grate two carrots at the same time before today?

There is nothing tricky about making these cookies. They don’t spread much, so I gave them a little pat to flatten the scoops of dough before baking them. The recipe suggests baking for 16-18 minutes; mine were done in 9. I was using a convection fan, which speeds things up a bit, but even so it’s always important to use your best judgment when it comes to baking times. Think of them as more of a hint as to when something should be expected to be done.

Just because I filled and dipped these little treats doesn’t mean they aren’t great just the way they come out of the oven.

To dress them up I made a Carrot-Cardamom Icing to glaze the top of each cookie with a nice blush of orange and add an additional hint of spice. After dipping a cookie top, let it drain by tapping it a few times on a whisk to remove excess icing. Just a thin coating is all that’s needed. Set them aside to dry for a few minutes.

Carrot-Cardamom Icing
2 tablespoons carrot juice*
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup powder sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon cardamom (ground from about 3 pods)
Stir the carrot juice, buttermilk and cardamom into the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.
*if you don’t have carrot juice, just use 3 tablespoons of buttermilk.

Spread a nice layer of cream cheese frosting on half of the cookies and then top each one with a glazed cookie top.

Cream Cheese Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar (4 ounces), sifted
½ teaspoon lemon juice
Beat the cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until well combined and smooth. Add the lemon juice and beat to combine. Spread on the cookies to fill.

These aren’t exactly traditional whoopie pies, but they are really tasty. If you would like to read about classic whoopie pies, of course www.whoopiepies.org is the place. It never ceases to amaze me that there is a website for every topic imaginable.

Thank you to Natalia of Gatti Fili E Farina for the fun recipe choice. She has the recipe as Dorie intended posted on her blog. You can always add my embellishments or create your own.

7/11 update: I baked some left over dough as thumbprint cookies filled with the cream cheese frosting and topped with crumbled nuts. They were even better than the whoopie pie style, and easier to make. Aren’t they cute?

Recipe Link

• Gingered Carrot Cookies

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I hear the word blondies and I can’t help but think blandies; pale bar cookies that don’t offer much flavor beyond simply being sweet.

Let’s just say I cranked out this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe with very low expectations. In true Dorie Greenspan form, this bar cookie is packed with goodies that make it anything but bland. Chocolate, toffee bits, walnuts, and coconut are Dorie’s suggestions. In addition to the mix-ins, brown sugar adds a tremendous amount of flavor to these bars. I will go so far as to say I loved these, David too.

I kept half of the batch “pure” for David, only mixing in the chocolate. My half had all the goodies except for the toffee bits (only because I didn’t have any). I also used large flake unsweetened coconut rather than the sweetened shredded variety. How do I know David was a fan of these? The regular inventory updates I was getting.

“I only have three blondies left.”
“I’m almost out of blondies.”
“ I’m having the last blondie with lunch.”
“All the blondies are gone.”

A big thanks to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for picking such a winner of a recipe. Now I know good blondies do exist. She has the recipe posted on her blog if you would like to prove it to yourself (link at the end of this post).

I’m a big fan of finding the best way to do something (just look at SpiceCare!). In a recent blog post, the ever-clever and talented CakeSpy, Jessie, has put some serious thought into the best way to cut bar cookies. For the times when the cookies get plated rather than eaten straight from the pan while standing in the kitchen, a perfect cut is important.

She’s way ahead of the game with her tool of choice, a New West Knife Works knife. These knives have become my latest obsession after reading about them for the first time on Bren Herrera’s blog post, “El Cubano!” The Amazing Cuban Sandwich & an Amazing Knife. The Fusionwood Super Bread Knife makes my heart race. I have already vowed that when I own one someday I won’t use it to chop chocolate, an abuse my current bread knife suffers on a regular basis. A serrated knife is terrific for chopping big blocks of chocolate, but then it’s not so good for slicing bread anymore. If you are in the market for a high quality knife, take a look at the New West Knife Works lines. They are made by bona fide food and knife geeks in Jackson Hole, WY. They think of each knife as a work of art and that’s the kind of knife I’d spend money on.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 131 recipes completed 89 to go!

Recipe Link

• Chewy, Chunky Blondies,  by Dorie Greenspan

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 136 recipes completed 85 to go!

It’s a Tuesdays with Dorie triple treat. The last three recipes all rolled into one delicious post. First up is Tart Noire. It’s as sexy and decadent as it sounds.

This tart is understated, elegant, and proof that very simple components, when done right, can be sensational. Like any dish, the simpler it is the more imperative quality ingredients become. This dessert is worth splurging on exquisite dark chocolate.

One of the best ways to elevate a lovely chocolate ganache is to pair it with a rich buttery crust. The contrast between the smooth creaminess of the chocolate ganache and perfectly crispy tart shell adds as much to the pleasure of eating this as the flavor does.

Some time ago I had a hot lava-type chocolate cake with caraway at Jerry Traunfeld’s restaurant Poppy. His pastry Chef, Dana Cree, is known for creating fantastic and unusual flavor combinations with her desserts and I ordered this one out of pure curiosity. It was so fantastic the flavor combination has been on my mind ever since.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to play with it, so I added ½ teaspoon of whole caraway seeds to the crust. It turned out to be a little too subtle, but the chocolate caraway combination was as good as I remember.  I liked the effect of the whole seeds releasing their flavor only when bitten into, but I think some ground caraway would make the presence of the spice more noticeable. One of the notable features of Chef Cree’s creation was that it wasn’t overly sweet, so I used a fairly dark chocolate for my tart.

Ganache and tart shells aren’t difficult to make. If you’d like to see it done before attempting it, take advantage of our 14 day trial offer  to Rouxbe. Here are two great recipes on Rouxbe that have a video demonstration of how to make ganache and how to make a tart shell; Chocolate Ganache Cake, Fresh Berry Tart.   A link to Dorie Greenspan’s Tart Noire recipe is at the end of this post. Her tart shell recipe uses a food processor which makes it a snap to make, and the Rouxbe demo shows the technique for a hand-mixed crust. Here is a video overview of the Chocolate Ganache Cake recipe to tempt you with delicious. At the end of the video you can click through for the free trail offer to be able to see the entire demo which includes how to make ganache.

Dorie Greenspan includes 14 different brownie recipes in Baking: From My Home To Yours, and I must admit this wasn’t one of my favorites. The distinguishing element is a mix in of York Peppermint Patties. When it comes to drug-store candy, I actually like York Peppermint Patties, but they made the brownies too sweet. The texture of the brownies was also an issue, heavy and a bit greasy, but it improved after sitting for a day. Now don’t let my lack of love for this recipe mislead you, we ate every last one of them. Of the brownies we have made so far, my favorite has been the Tribute-to Katherine-Hepburn Brownies. By my count we still have seven more brownie recipes to bake.

The Lots-of-Ways-Banana Cake rounds out this triple-treat post. The most exciting thing for me about this recipe is I emptied 3 containers of frozen things in making it, bananas, coconut milk, and coconut buttercream. I freeze leftover bits of whatever is left over and always get a thrill when I manage to use up the odds and ends, but truth be told I’m most happy about freeing up the freezer container so I can fill it with something else.

Brown sugar and nutmeg really add a nice flavor to this cake. Dorie provides a list of options to take this cake in a variety of directions. I went with two layers frosted with creamcheese coconut buttercream because I had the perfect amount of it on hand in the freezer. Though I really liked the flavor, the texture was a bit heavy for a layer cake. I think it would have been better baked as a loaf cake and frosted. It seems silly that the shape would make a difference, but it comes down to expectations. I expect a layer cake to be light and delicate and expect a loaf cake to be dense and hearty, the kind of cake you could eat out of hand with a nice cup of coffee.

Thank you to my fellow Tuesday with Dorie bakers who selected the recipes: Dharmagirl of Bliss: towards a delicious life picked Tart Noire, Karen of  Welcome to Our Crazy Blessed Life selected the Brrrr-ownies, and Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities chose Lots of Ways Banana Cake.

Recipe links

• Tart Noire
• Brrrr-ownies
• Lots of Ways Banana Cake

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When I treat myself to a nice cup of coffee at a coffee shop I generally like a little baked treat to go along with my beverage and I usually go for either a scone or a slice of pound cake.

More often than not I’m underwhelmed by coffeehouse pound cake that I likely paid $1.75 for. Not that it’s bad, it just never seems to be as good as it could be. Much of what distinguishes “great” from “okay” is texture. A really good pound cake is tender but with a course dense texture. The right balance of these elements creates a unique toothsome chew that sets great pound cake apart.  

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake, is great pound cake. It has the seemingly impossible combination of a course, yet tender texture and a rich buttery sweet flavor. You might be thinking that drenching it in rum give this cake an unfair advantage, well, I only drenched mine with citrus simple syrup and it definitely qualified as a great pound cake in my book.

As far as cake goes, it’s an easy one to make requiring nothing more than simple hand mixing. Bonus points are added for utilizing melted butter which eliminates the need to think ahead to bring the butter to room temperature. Unlike a traditional pound cake, which is simply a pound of butter, sugar, flour and eggs; this version takes advantage of the leavening power of baking powder for lift. One note, mine cooked much quicker than the suggested 55-60 minutes, so keep an eye on it.

Last week I discovered that a little jam and frosting can transform a simple pound cake into an impressive layer cake. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to apply that concept again this week. I filled the layers with freshly made strawberry ginger jam (recipe posted soon) and frosted it with coconut buttercream I had stashed in the freezer. Transforming a pound cake into a layer cake is my favorite baking discovery of this entire Tuesdays with Dorie odyssey. It has endless applications and is hands-down the quickest and easiest way to create a beautiful layer cake.

Thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for the delicious pick this week. If you need a dessert to take to a 4^th of July celebration this weekend, this would be a great choice. You can even make it a day ahead because it really is better the next day.

Happy 4^th of July!

Recipe Link

• Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 131 recipes completed 89 to go!

Sometimes it’s a unique combination of flavors or a surprisingly lovely texture that surprises and thrills me about a new recipe. With this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake, it was the construction.

This is essentially a sour cream chocolate pound cake, a really good sour cream chocolate pound cake mind you, that has been sliced into three layers, filled with jam, and frosted. Brilliant! As soon as I realized what was going on with this recipe my mind started cataloging all sorts of ways I can put this concept to good use, and I wondered why I had never thought to treat a pound cake like a layer cake before.

If you aren’t up for making and frosting a layer cake, this is the cake for you. The batter is easy to mix up and it bakes in a single loaf pan. Layering the cake with jam eliminates the need to make a filling and is so quick and easy to spread. The jam melds with the cake layers adding a bright flavor accent and moist texture that makes you want another bite.  A simple ganache frosting made by stirring sour cream into melted chocolate is all that’s necessary to finish it off.

Chocolate with cardamom is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Cardamom has the unique ability to be simultaneously strong and coy; it swirls around the taste of the chocolate and comes through in a subtle I’m here but I’m not here sort of way. I added ½ teaspoon of cardamom to my version and matched it with apricot jam.

Treating a simple pound cake like a layer cake opens up a whole new set of dessert options. The speed and ease of turning to a lovely jam as a filling makes this concept all the more appealing. I love the delicious understatement of pound cake but if I’m serving it for dessert will always dress it up with something. Fresh berries are my standard garnish, though I have recently become quite enamored with this Guinness Reduction.  Now, I’m just as likely to layer it with a special jam and frost it.

Thank you to Amy, of Amy Ruth Bakes, for expanding my idea of what pound cake can be. She has posted the recipe on her blog if you would like to try this particularly tasty version, but of course you can layer up and frost your favorite pound cake in any way that inspires you.

Recipe Link

• Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake
• Guinness Reduction

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