This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes: dressy chocolate loafcake. The chocolate loafcake is split horizontally into layers, filled with raspberry jam, and then topped with a chocolate/sour cream frosting. The combination of chocolate and raspberry sounded delicious to me, but there was no way Shane was going to touch it, so as I often do, I modified things a bit so I wouldn’t wind up having to eat the dessert all by myself.
I halved the recipe and thanks to a suggestion from Mary Ann over on the P&Q’s, I made jumbo cupcakes. The half recipe yielded four of them and they baked in about 30 minutes. I was skeptical about the chocolate/sour cream frosting combo and feeling lazy, so the cupcakes remained bare. I delivered Shane’s lunch to him at his office yesterday and brought him one of the cupcakes, still warm from the oven, as dessert. An hour or so later I got an email thanking me and letting me know it was very tasty! Good news as I planned to ask him to eat 2 of the remaining 3 sitting on the counter at home.
As for that final cupcake? I did as Dorie directed and cut it into three layers, filling them with the raspberry jam, and spreading a little more on top for good measure. Still no frosting, but instead a huge dollop of whipped cream. It was the perfect snack and I enjoyed it while we watched the most recent episode of The Next Food Network Star last night (our early favorite is Aarti – so warm and interesting and oh, that accent, I could listen to her talk for hours!). The cake was very tender and rich, and though the jam layers were thin, the raspberry flavor was wonderful with the chocolate.
Thanks to Amy for hosting this week! You can find the recipe on her blog or on pages 286-287 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
This is one of my favorite Dorie recipes of all time. You should make the frosting one day — it is delicious.
Cupcakes are a great idea! We’ve been watching TNFS, too. I always forget how painful the early episodes are to watch. =) I think Aarti is my favorite so far, too. I also hope that Brad gets his act together–it would be nice to see an Austin guy do well. =)
Wow that is one perfect cupcake! Great looking frosting!
I made mine as cupcakes too! And I have a guy who’s a picky eater as well! We have so much in common! 🙂 Your cupcakes look perfect! i love that photo that shows the sliced cupcake. Gorgeous!
I love Aarti too… she is so undeniably charming and you can’t help but love her accent and bubbly sort of innocence. I’m with ya and, about your blog, I like the way that you always are able to customize to your requirements and taste. I know that about you so its always fun to see what you do. Neat huh? Thanks so much for baking along with me and thanks for showing us how to individualize this dressed up little cake.
AmyRuth
Cupcakes are a great idea! And you made yours so perfectly. I would never have thought to do a cupcake but I bet mine would have turned out a bit better if I had. I’m going to make this again and perfect it. I really am. Don’t laugh. I am.
What a great way to meet all the needs, jam/no jam! It looks so elegant all dressed up as you did. You always make things look so special.
With my fear of cutting cakes, I should have made the cupcakes. I would almost believe, I would not have a thick and a thin piece, then.
Your cupcake is glorious. Cupcakes had their return, for a reason.
Cupcakes were definitely the way to go on this one. Yours look great!
The cupcake looks so sophisticated and perfect — it looks just like a restaurant dessert! I love the sprig of mint on top, too. I didn’t tell Dudley about the fruit in the middle so he ate it anyway and never figured out!
love your cupcake version. so sweet of you to deliver a hot from the oven cupcake to work!
Adorable! I love that you even did the three layers! I’m definitely using this recipe for my next batch of chocolate cupcakes!
I’m watching Next Food Network Star, too. I’m behind on it though. I hope to catch up on the episode tonight. Love that pic of the sliced cupcake. Always such pretty pics, Tracey!
Love the flavor combination of this cake but on yours, I think what I love most if the whipped dome on top. Looks so fluffy and comfy 🙂
Yep!! Good plain. Nice and dense and chocolatey. You will HAVE to try the frosting. It was much better than I expected.
Love that you made cuppys. That would be perfect for these.
i love the middle pic you sliced into thirds. too cute!
Love that photo of the sliced cupcake! Sounds like you came up with the perfect solution to getting all the cupcakes eaten and enjoyed.
I love that you layered your jumbo cupcakes. They look delicious.
The topping is great too.
Very pretty!
I think your cupcake is perfect with the whipped cream and raspberry jam. It was a bit too much chocolate for me, and this sounds ideal.
PS: I almost forgot…Aarti is my favorite too, for all of the reasons you mentioned. I just can’t get that excited about the others.
This cake was so good, it really didn’t need the frosting. Whipped cream sounds great as a frosting alternative too.
Those cupcakes look like there were baked in a mold – that top is so nice and “formed – what wonderful cakes! I love the topping, the size and the split level version as well. So nice to see creative variations going on!
This is a very unique recipe! I haven’t thought of this. You are really so creative.
Great idea to do it in cupcakes. I have to try that.
What a clever idea to make these into cupcakes. They look gorgeous.
Absolutely beautiful Tracey!
I must admit, I had access to cable last night and I watched Cupcake Wars and Chopped. I don’t regret the wasted 2 hours in front of the TV 🙂
The loaf cake looks awesome in cupcake form! What a nice treat for Shane to have a freshly-baked cupcake.
Aarti and Herb are my favorites on TNFS. I’ve also recently gotten sucked into “Cupcake Wars” – yay Food Network for some summer TV.
I actually didn’t expect to like the frosting, but it was definitely wonderful. I went with cupcakes too, which were the perfect size for a little dessert. Yours looks wonderful!
Great idea to go with cupcakes instead!! These sound and look delish!!!