TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Ok, let me just say one thing I like is a cake that commits. If you are going to call yourself a chocolate cake, you better be darn chocolaty. If you are a coconut cake... be choc full of coconut. When I was planning my wedding I wanted a traditional almond flavored white wedding cake- not a white cake or a yellow cake- but a truly almond flavored cake. That being said- this cake commits. It is a ginger extravaganza! Three forms of ginger go into it: freshly chopped ginger, candied ginger, and ground ginger, making it the gingeriest cake I have ever tasted.


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Heather of Sherry Trifle (you can find the recipe on her blog and also in Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan). Like I said before- this is one gingery cake! But it's also got melted chocolate and chopped chocolate in it and is topped with a very light ganache-like frosting of chocolate and coffee. The combination is pretty deadly! Like Dorie says in the book- this cake tastes like Christmas.

The first thing that I noticed when I read the recipe was how many ingredients the cake calls for-and I'll admit that part of me didn't want to buy three types of ginger, molasses, and buttermilk (things I rarely keep on hand) but I really like to try to stick to the recipe the first time I make it- so I dutifully went out and bought them all. I'm actually really glad I didn't omit or substitute anything because I think each ingredient was necessary to this cake- it just had such a well rounded flavor and beautiful crumb! So another success with Dorie! Oh and I really am going to make an effort to post more- because once a week is pretty lame, even for a pregnant woman!

TWD: Berry Surprise Cake

I'm so glad I decided to make this cake! I really love baking with Tuesdays with Dorie, I know I've said this before, but it nudges me (I don't want to say forces because I really love doing it!) to bake things that I really wouldn't consider baking if I were not in the group! This cake was selected by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen and you can find the recipe on her blog and of course in Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.


Ok let me just say that as anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows- I dislike cream cheese...strongly. So that's the number one reason I might not have tried this cake on my own- another reason is that I'm very childlike in my tendencies toward visual aids and this recipe does not have a beautiful, full page, color picture with it- so it was hard for me to visualize the steps of building the cake. Well, the cream cheese in the filling was a little bit strong for me- but luckily I had my fearless and ever-hungry assistant to aid me in eating my cake:

Seriously- Helen Mae could not get enough of the decadent, creamy filling- and my family concurred- so I have to believe that it was in fact an excellent filling for the non-haters of cream cheese. As for building this "surprise" cake- it really wasn't bad at all. The cake was made up of five components: a genoise cake, a cream cheese/whipped cream filling, fresh berries, a syrup, and a whipped cream covering.

The genoise cake came together really beautifully. My biggest concern was whipping the egg and sugar mixture to the appropriate consistency and then maintaining the fluffiness as I incorperated the dry ingredients and butter- but this was honestly not difficult at all.

The filling, berries, and whipped cream topping were all extremely easy to throw together. The syrup, while extremely easy to make, didn't really seem necessary in my opinion. Now, I feel like I shouldn't say this with any kind of authority, because I must admit that it did nothing to hurt the cake- but I did use it- so I don't know if something might have ended up differently if I did not use it...I guess I'll have to try it sans syrup next time to know for sure.

Anyway, the part that was a little nerve wrecking was hollowing out the cake for the berries and filling. Because the cake was so easy to work with, I had no problems cutting the top off or hollowing out the middle and the cake held up beautifully once it was filled and frosted.


I kept thinking about how this would be such a great dessert for 4th of July- you can fill it with any berries and strawberries and blueberries would look very festive amidst the fluffy white filling.

TWD: French Pear Tart and Why I Have Been MIA...

I'm back! I feel so bad that I have let myself slip like this- but the important thing is that I'm back now! To be honest, the reason that I have been so absent these last few months is that I'm pregnant again! Yep, baby #2 will be here in July- which means that I have been wracked with fatigue and extreme food aversions- however, I'm happy to report that I am now entering into the 2nd trimester so my energy is coming back and slowly but surely the thought of nearly every single type of food no longer makes me ill. I was especially happy that this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for the French Pear Tart sounded appealing to me because it was chosen by none other than Dorie Greenspan! How exciting is that?! Be sure to check out her blog for the recipe and to see how this thing should really look!!


The tart is really delicious! The crust is buttery and slightly sweet and the filling is comprised mostly of ground almonds, butter, sugar- of course this is all topped off by sliced fresh pears! While the pie baked I felt instantly transported back to my semester abroad in France. The scent of the buttery pastry mixed with the almonds was so reminiscent of the bakeries that stood on every street corner. This is the kind of dessert that tastes really complicated but is actually pretty simple and yields excellent results!


So I'll leave you with this:
Helen Mae... showing off one of her newest tricks: squinting. Note how she is blissfully unaware that in a few short months she'll be sharing the spotlight with baby peanut.