February 13, 2007

Happy Anti-Valentine's Day

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How could anyone ever fire Dorie Greenspan? But thank goodness they did because otherwise who knows whether or not we’d have all of her wonderful creations, like this Chocolate Armagnac Cake for example. In the words of Dorie herself, this is the cake that got her fired. She was working in her first professional restaurant and became bored of making the same chocolate cake with raisins soaked in whiskey. One day she switched the raisins and whiskey for prunes and armagnac. Her boss wasn’t happy with the change and fired her. On the upside, she got to keep the cake recipe and I for one, couldn’t be happier. Unfortunately, I underbaked the cake. It was still really tasty, it just didn’t quite have the texture I thought it should have. This easily could have been avoided if I had of stuck a toothpick in the cake to check its doneness. Instead I just yanked it out of the oven and prematurely tried to unmold it. I very quickly discovered that the interior of the cake was still quite wet. Dorie’s instructions are clear that the cake should not still be wet in the middle when you remove it from the oven. I read that key bit of information after the fact. I really have to learn to read recipes better.

At first I was surprised to see that there were prunes in this cake. For one reason or another, prunes generally seem old fashioned, almost geriatric. They’ve got none of the flash of dried cherries or the pizzazz of crystallized ginger. You might think that there’s no place for prunes in a chocolate cake. But they’re chopped into bits and then flamed in armagnac so don’t even try to tell me you wouldn’t like it. I’d be willing to bet that if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know there were prunes in the cake. You would taste chocolate and armagnac and something else, something a little chewy with excellent texture. But what could it be? Certainly not prunes! But if you thought that, you’d be wrong, because it is indeed prunes and they’re perfect. I also really liked the glaze on this cake. It’s nothing flashy but it has a nice shine and drizzles like it means business. I did absolutely nothing to change Dorie’s cake, so if you’re wondering where the recipe is, the answer would be “on page 279 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.”


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If you’re into that whole Valentine’s Day thing, I suppose this would be a cake worthy of the occasion. It’s got everything you need- chocolate and booze. Personally, I think it’s better not to taint this cake by associating it with Valentine’s day, but the choice is ultimately yours. But I guess if you did make the cake and then things didn’t go as well as you planned with your date, then you’d have this wonderful cake all to yourself. That’s reason enough to hope that your date’s a dud. So go ahead and let your friend set you up with “the perfect guy” that nobody else wants, just make sure you’ve got your Chocolate Armagnac cake made ahead of time for when you get home early.



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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks like one delicious cake! Dorie scores again.

Rachel Rubin said...

I love that you call it "Anti-Valentine Day". That is hysterical! I'm going to celebrate by making cupcakes and watching some girlie movies :)

And after seeing your pictures, I need some chocolate!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I also have your reading problem. The plum cake of her I put in the oven, I reread the direction and yanked it out of the oven and was then turning the plum over.

Anonymous said...

I loved that story when I read it in her book! Gorgeous cake!

Elle said...

Looks like it tasted just fine cooked that way. It was a great story in the book, too.

My daughter is holding an anti-V day party, watching War of the Roses movie with friends. She should make this cake to bring. Better than blind date every time.

Maggie said...

Chocolate and prunes are a match made in heaven. I'm coming over for a piece of this cake - is there any left?

Gattina Cheung said...

Wet in the center, like truffle? Even better! I love prune!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Happy Anti-Valentine's Day to you! Frankly, I have yet to hit a bad recipe in Dorie's book, and this looks like another winner that I'll have to try.

wheresmymind said...

aww...goey cakes need love too! Like in my stomach ;)

Mishmash ! said...

Brilynn, Happy (Anti-)V-Day :)
Well, Thanks for visiting my page. The cake looks all chocolatey and yummy-yummy...and I 've also tried the fudge from Very Best Baking but never ever thought of presenting it this way !!!! Really Good.
Shn

Anonymous said...

Great looking cake! I must get out this book and start cooking from it!

K and S said...

Happy Anti-V-day to you, Brilynn! This cake still looks great!

Peabody said...

This seems very Valentine like! :) And very tasty!

FH said...

You too have good one Brilynn! Anti one that is!!:D

Sara said...

Brilynn, have you been to Dorie's site yet?

http://www.doriegreenspan.com/

Anh said...

Yummy! You really tempt me to buy Dorie's cookbook.

Alpineberry Mary said...

Prunes sound fancier (and less geriatric) if you call them "Italian dried plums". It's the miracle of marketing. :)

Anonymous said...

It's great to see this cake getting a little love -- thank you. Funny, I adore prunes. I love their tanginess, the way they blend really well with other flavors and how they can work with alcohols. I even like the word prune -- calling prunes "dried plums" is precise but pretentious. Can you tell I feel strongly about this?