Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Playing dress-up



Some days, I think one of Gillian's most treasured possessions is a $5 pair of plastic purple dress-up shoes.  We have a collection of fancy princess dresses, but it's the shoes and the cheap plastic jewelry that get the most use.  And just about any bag gets turned into a purse, filled with a collection of Fisher Price Little People, play kitchen utensils, baby doll clothes, cell phones (toys or my old ones) and empty makeup containers (also begged from me).  There's no question this is a house of girls.  =)

And who doesn't like to play dress-up sometimes?  As I've progressed as a food blogger, one of the things I hope I've improved at is dressing up my baked goods and making them look good for their glamour shots.  This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is perfect for that--it's even in the recipe title, Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake.  This fun selection comes from Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes.


The cake was pretty straightforward to mix up--it's basically a chocolate pound cake, mixed using the creaming method.  I deviated from the recipe only in the assembly.  For one thing, I prefer the look of the cake in its original orientation, rather than turned upside-down as Dorie suggests.  (I'm the same way with angel food cake.)  When I sliced through the cake to make the first layer, I realized that I'd only cut about a quarter of the cake, rather than a third.  So my cake ended up with four layers rather than three to keep things even.  For the filling, I used my favorite raspberry fruit butter. And as for frosting, I like chocolate and sour cream, but was feeling lazy.  So I topped my cake with some leftover ganache that I had in the fridge.  Easy, and fun to drizzle. =)



The verdict?  I thought the cake was pretty good, and it seemed to be well received when I shared some of it at work.  It had a dense, moist texture. Not overly chocolatey, but nice, especially with the raspberry to add a tart contrast.  Brianna and Gillian really liked it.  They kept asking for it for dessert every night until it was all gone.  

If you'd like to give this cake a try, head over to Amy's blog for the recipe.  And check out the Leave Your Links post for this week to see how everyone else did with this recipe!



19 comments:

  1. LOVE the drizzle down the sides of the cake. This was nice and chocolaty without being too much. Definitely a keeper.

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  2. Ha! We are overloaded with the plastic shoes, purses, etc. as well. We could have one fun playdate if we lived closer! Your cake looks beautiful -love the raspberries. I like the way this looks as a rightside up cake!! Gorgeous cake, Di!

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  3. Yum your cake looks wonderful! I love the chocolate coming down the sides!

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  4. Di, Wow, four layers!?! You are a talented cake layer slicer. Impressive and yes, when Libby was a little girl, (she is 20 now, boo hoo) we had so many purses and we had to carry them all around with us when we went places. he he Funny what you remember. Anyway, I love the mental picture of all the girlie stuff at your house and the play. Great post and I kept thinking I needed to chunk up some Callebaut for this cake. That sounded like a good addition. Thanks for baking along with me.
    AmyRuth

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  5. your cake looks beautiful! Definitely very glammed up! So glad the girls enjoed it! I really liked this as well!

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  6. I could only get two layers in mine and you end up with four. That is so not fair! Your cake is perfection. I LOVE the chocolate drizzling down the sides. It looks sooo yummy. And the berries make for a beautiful photo.

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  7. We had a lot of dress-up days as well...Spiderman, Batman, Fire Fighters, GI Joe, Harry Potter, and someone they call Ralph the Fix Everything Guy. None of them came with any particular form of footwear that I recall. Your cake looks great...I am sure that Ralph the Fix Everything Guy would devour it in one sitting. I am counting on girl grandbabies.

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  8. What a cute post, Di. I love reading about the dress up days. Your cake looks so effortlessly sophisticated and perfect. I can't believe how even and crumb-free your layers are -- I had crumbs everywhere while I was putting this cake together.

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  9. Your picture looks amazing. What a great job you did dressing up this cake!

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  10. awesome job!
    I like this so much I made 2: Bundt & Loaf cakes
    your drippy frosting looks amazing.

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  11. It looks tall and gorgeous with the 4 layers and the ganache glaze!

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  12. Your cake looks so wonderful, Di. I really like the way the ganache is oozing down the sides. YUM!

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  13. I must say that is one creative icing technique! LOVE it - especially with the raspberries. It makes it into a wonderful summer dessert (even though it's a dense chocolate cake) - you've made it so light-looking. Think I'll dress up tomorrow!

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  14. Love how your chocolate is dripping down the sides of your loaf. Looks so delicious :)

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  15. This is my first time on your blog (funny we both picked the same background for our blogs).

    What a pretty cake. It looks very chocolaty. Love the addition of raspberries on the side. Glad the kids liked it :o)

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  16. The fruit butter sounds delicious and the raspberries are so pretty dressing up your lovely cake- awesome job!

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  17. What beautiful photos, Di! You've made the raspberries look positively luminous!

    Your cake looks perfect, but with all that chocolate goodness, dressing up really is gilding the lily. So I, like you, used leftover ganache instead of making the frosting.

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  18. gorgeous! i love the ganache running down the sides!

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  19. I'm impressed at the number of layers and the chocolate dripping down the sides - two of my favorite things about cakes like this :) Sounds like it was a winner in your house too!

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