Tuesday, March 3, 2009

TWD: Chocolate Armagnac Cake

Hello everyone! We had a great trip to Mexico (more posts and pictures to follow). Now I'm back and into baking for "Tuesdays with Dorie" again.

This week's assignment was "Chocolate Armagnac Cake," chosen by LyB of And then I do the dishes. Wow! Seven ounces of chocolate, ground pecans, prunes flambéd in fancy brandy, almost no flour, and three more ounces of chocolate in the glaze. This is the sort of dessert I love!


For the recipe, check out LyB's post. Or buy Dorie Greenspan's great cookbook, "Baking: From My Home to Yours."

What I did: used half almonds and half pecans because I had some ground-up almonds left over from January's French Pear Tart. Used mostly Scharffenberger 70% chocolate with a bit of Callebaut bittersweet when the Scharfenberger ran out. Used nice organic prunes and a mixture of good cognac and not-too-expensive brandy. Other than that, this is one recipe where I just followed the directions! A couple of tips: a pair of kitchen scissors works wonderfully for cutting up the prunes. Snip, snip, snip -- if the shears get sticky just wipe them with a damp cloth. Much easier than chopping with a knife. And, if there are any lumps at all in the confectioners' sugar for the glaze, be sure to sift it after measuring and before using.

whipping egg whites in the lovely copper bowl that my sweetie found in a second-hand store

My cake was definitely done after 30 minutes in the oven. In fact, I was worried that I might have overbaked it a bit, but tasting it later proved it was just right! My only complaint was that I couldn't really taste the brandy.

I can see making this again with different combinations of ground nuts, dried fruit and booze. Raisins and whisky -- candied orange peel and Grand Marnier -- dried cherries and brandy or rum -- delicious!

12 comments:

Jin Hooi said...

Your cake looks beautiful !! I used RUM but i couldn't taste the rum either .. anyway, it was great !! we loved it !!

Unknown said...

Your cake looks perfect! Glad you had a nice trip!

Babette said...

Oooh, pretty copper! For a second I thought you'd hand whipped those whites and I was really impressed...(I noticed the mixer)--

I used rum and I could REALLY taste it--but I used an expensive, dark aged rum, not clear (it was a gift. What do I know?)---it is so nice. Try it with something darker next time.

Di said...

Your cake looks delicious. And now I have bowl envy. =) Good tip for cutting the prunes, too. I'll keep that in mind, since I haven't made my cake yet.

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

You rcake loos nice and fudgy! Yum! this is the kind of cake I love as well!

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Great cake, and 3 cheers to your hubby who knew enough to grab that bowl when he saw it. Great find!

TeaLady said...

Looks just right. And a mix of almonds and pecans. Perfect.

AmyRuth said...

Love the copper bowl. Lucky girl. Great cake, loved it. I used tiny pecans, brandy and I could taste it. Great job
AmyRuth

Love you photos from your trip.

natalia said...

I love the look of your cake ! The colours of your mexican photos are great !!

Linda said...

Nice tip using scissors to cut the prunes. Beautiful cake --- I hope you had a great trip!!

LyB said...

I agree this cake would be good with so many different fruits and booze combinations. I'm so glad you liked it. Thanks for baking along with me! :)

Lynne Daley said...

Great job on the Armagnac cake. I think it's the most decadent cake I've made so far. The copper bowl is a definite "find"-can't believe someone got rid of it. Your good fortune! Thanks for alerting me on the Feedburner issue. Hope I have it sorted out.