This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Lyb of And then I do the dishes. You can find the recipe on her blog or in Dorie’s fabulous book Baking: From my Home to Yours on pages pages 279-281.
I pretty much had all the ingredients, except for the prunes, so I decided to go ahead and make this week’s recipe. The photo in the book was very enticing, but I admit, I was very nervous about the alcohol in the ingredients list. I don’t care for dishes or desserts with an alcohol flavor and neither do my kids or my husband. I’ll also admit, I was nervous about the fact that prunes were in this recipe. But to my surprise they added a wonderful fudge like texture and really made the cake.
When i went to the store to get the prunes, I had a choice between regular prunes with pits (a large bag), small bag of lemon essence prunes, pitted, or a small bag of orange essence prunes, pitted. I didn’t want to spend the extra money on the larger bag of prunes, so I opted for the smaller bag of orange essence. This actually added a very nice hint of orange flavor that was a great compliment to the dark chocolate flavors.
This actually came together very nicely, the only problem i really had was that when I folded in the remaining egg whites I was afraid of overmixing. Therefore I undermixed and ended up with some white spots in the finished cake. You can see one in the photo. LOL
My favorite part of this cake is actually the glaze. It behaved exactly as Dorie’s recipe said it would. I poured it on top and it spread itself across the top, I helped it down the sides. It hardened beautifully and provided a gorgeous presentation. A special thanks to Dorie herself for answering my questions about this glaze!!
This cake is fabulous at room temperature but you must like dark chocolate to enjoy this cake. See how the other TWD bakers faired by checking out the blogroll!
Amanda your cake looks fabulous!! Orange and chocolate are the perfect combination!! Well done you! I loved this cake myself!
I think the choice of the orange prunes was perfect – they sound very nice. Your cake looks lovely – and how marvellous that Dorie responded to you so quickly!
That looks so rich and delicious!
Beautiful job!!!!
quelle bonne idée d’incorporer des pruneaux parfumés à l’orange ! les saveurs devaient être sublimes :)
I agree with you on the chocolate glaze. It was so smooth and shiny and it tasted great.
It looks perfect! I was really happy that the prunes sort of just melted into the cake. It was yummy.
Oh that looks beautiful! My icing didn’t go down the sides like yours, but it was really tasty. Great job!
Orange scented prunes, wow, I wish I had found those! Your cake looks beautiful. :) Thanks for baking along with me this week!
Amanda – I think I would love that cake. It looks delicious!
Your cake looks fantastic! Orange prunes sound like a great sub for regular prunes!
Looks sinfully delicious!
I have never heard of orange prunes… Very interesting.
oh, I almost bought prunes with orange and now I’m regretting it! Your cake looks great
Prunes with orange essence? You got to be kidding me. That sounds delicious actually. If I had that option, I would have gone for the same thing. I am loving your cake. Hope you saved me a slice. Nice job, Amanda! *Applause*
Your cake looks gorgeous. Great job! I’m glad it was a hit.
Oooh! I actually like the sound of those orange essence prunes! That would have gone well with some Grand Marnier! That sounds fantastic!
mmmmm orange and chocolate together are so good! Glad your cake turned out so well!
That really does look good! I opted out this week and made a TWD rewind recipe of Snickery Squares. Very good!
I think your cake looks awesome.
Another great recipe! That cake looks so rich!
WOW! It looks super moist… mine did too, just not that much! …it looks almost wet!
Wasen’t it great!? Almost like eating raw cake batter!
Very well done, Amanda!
I really liked the glaze on this cake as well. Yours looks absolutely perfect!
I haven’t seen flavoured prunes before, just the flavoured craisins. The orange would have given a nice flavour, maybe with Grand Marnier with them too.
Your cake looks lovely, I was happy with the glaze too. :)
Looks wonderful Amanda!
What could I use to replace the ground nuts? Maybe increase the flour?
Beautiful picture. I did an orange-ish flavor in mine too, in the form of Grand Marnier.
Your cake looks perfect Way to go Amanda!
I made a mixture of bittersweet and semisweet chocolates. I agree – it was a great cake!
WOW.. ur cake looks so good !! I love the glaze too, next time i will try the cake with prunes !!
Your cake looks great, I would have never thought of using prunes in a cake. That is very interesting sounding but very delish looking!!
Nice job on the cake. It looks delicious!
Beautiful cake! Looks “higher” than mine – and more lighter. Glad you enjoyed it and got your question answered personally! Nicely done!
I LOVE the idea of orange scented prunes…only could enhance this already delicious cake
This looks so heavenly!
Your cake looks fabulous!
A hint of orange would definitely add to this cake. Yours came out beautifully.
This looks so rich and delicious!
I definitely agree that the prunes and booze were a nice surprise in cake… beautiful job!!!
Your photos are gorgeous! They make me wish I’d enjoyed this cake so I could make it again.