1.  Chocolate – the other food group, the food of the Gods, a cure for PMS, an aphrodisiac, some say.  Of course, chocolate is almost always my first choice.

2.  Then there is the other descriptive word,  ”dressy.”  It reminds me of way, way back to childhood.  I grew up in Oklahoma.  Is that the south?  Well, either way.   Somehow every Easter, Mom and Dad managed to provide my brother and me new clothes,  complete with shoes and hat (for me, no hat for him, hehe)  for church Easter Sunday.  It was special and the shopping was much anticipated.  I remember standing in the backyard while Mom or Dad stood with the Brownie Hawkeye camera to take photographs.  Yep, in black and white.  All of this is a comforting and happy memory.

This just had to be a happy recipe, right?  Hope you think so too.

Back to the Dressy Cake

Now here is the fun.

For the Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

~

1/3 cup best-quality red raspberry or cherry jam-for filling

1 teaspoon water

For the Frosting

5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9 1/2 x 5 inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.  Place the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked on the top of one another.

To Make the Cake: Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until very light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each one goes in.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the sour cream.  Still working on a low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix only until they disappear into the batter,  Give the batter a last stir with a sturdy rubber spatula and scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.  If, after about 45 minutes, the cake looks as if its browning too quickly, cover it losely with a foil tent.  Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the cake rest for about 5 minutes before turning it out on the to rack.  Cool to room temperature upside down.

To Fill The Cake: Bring the jam and water to a boil over low heat or in a microwave oven.  Stir to smooth it, and keep at hand.

The top of the cake will become the bottom layer, so if it is uneven and your cake rocks a bit on the counter, turn it right side up and use a long serrated knife to level it.  Using the serrated knife, cut the cake into 3 even layers.  Put the first layer (originally the top of the cake) cut side up on a long serving plate and spread half of the jam over it.  Cover with the middle layer and spread that layer with the remaining jam.  Lift the top layer into place, cut side down.  Use a small pastry brush to chase away any crumbs on the top or sides of the cake.

To Make The Frosting: Fit a heatproof bowl into a pan of gently simmering water, add the chocolate and warm, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted.  Still working over the hot water, stir in the sour cream.  Don’t be concerned if the cream tightens-just keep stirring gently and the frosting will become smooth and glossy.

Remove from the heat and cover the sides and top of the cake with the still warm frosting.

Dorie says its ready to serve as soon as it is frosted, but likes to wait about an hour, until the frosting develops the slightest little crust; the frosting underneath the crust will still be soft and velvety.  Serve with a bit of whipped cream and if you’d like a pitcher of the Smooth & Tangy Chocolate Sauce.

Playing Around If you want to serve the cake with a sauce that is perfectly matched to it, double the frosting recipe and use half for the frosting and the other half to make a sauce.

for the sauce: bring about 1 cup whole milk (amount is your preference of consistency) almost to a boil.  Put the bowl of extra frosting back over the pan of hot water and gently whisk in the hot milk a little at a time, adding as much as you want to get the desired consistency.  The sauce is ready to use when it is as thick or thin as you’d like and perfectly smooth.  You can make the sauce in advance and keep it covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days; just warm it gently before serving.

This “Dressy” recipe is brought to you by the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group’s beloved inspiration, Dorie Greenspan. It is from her wonderful book entitled Baking From My Home to Yours. Thank you Dorie for giving all the joy of your kitchen to all of us.  Your book has really enriched many lives.  Just think of all the sharing that goes around.  What Fun!

Be sure and check out all the Tuesday With Dorie bakers and see the phenomenal display of Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cakes.  I assure you there will be some decked out cakes!  hehe

Corbin and I enjoyed taking a lot of photographs for this special occasion of Tuesdays with Dorie. It was my turn among the over 300 bakers to choose the recipe.  I know you’ll love checking them out.  Here they are.  Thank you for visiting and baking with me.

Just a note: Please don’t tell my “gym-rat” friends, this chocolate cake is totally worth the calories, meaning I am willing to work out a little extra just to eat this.  Its that good.  Yum!

]]> http://www.amyruthbakes.com/2010/06/dressy-chocolate-loaf-cake-for-tuesdays-with-dorie/feed/ 48 http://www.amyruthbakes.com/2010/06/tender-shortcakes/ http://www.amyruthbakes.com/2010/06/tender-shortcakes/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:30:55 +0000 Amy Ruth http://www.amyruthbakes.com/?p=1430 Tender, by definition is having a soft or yielding texture : easily broken, cut, or damaged, that is true if you are able to restrain yourself from mixing the dry niblets completely. I know you might think it’s not finished or complete.    You might even think I have to stop stirring now…. as you round the bowl just one more time.  Don’t beat yourself up, its just baking and you can always really listen to that little voice in your head the next time around.  The “less is more” theory does in fact really work here.  Try it, you’ll be amazed.  I dare you.

Pie crust, shortcakes, biscuits, well I think they deserve to be among the morsels falling into the “tender” category.  I like them that way.

So Cathy, of The Tortefeasor,  thank you for choosing the best simple dessert of the season. Basic ingredients standing in as the canvas for beautiful summer berries.  Its perfect for summer.  (smiling)  I love that you got lucky that way, a recipe still lurking around in Baking From My Home to Yours. You constantly amaze me with the level of activity you have in your life with little people, a career and yet you have time to squeeze in wonderful food for your family and blog about it.  Go Cathy!!!  YAY for all the Tuesdays With Dorie bakers!

Today, I mixed up these tender little cakes.  I baked off a couple for photographs just for you.  Maybe a bite or two for me.  After all I do need to report to you that yes, they are worth the calories. Okay, more than a bite or two.  These were perfect for sumptuous strawberries and blueberries.    You should master this practical little shortcake because you can also make up the dough, plop them onto a pan, put them in the freezer for a medium sized snooze ( up to a couple of months) and pull them  for a delightful dessert later.  How perfectly simple.

My apologies for the lack of photos.  So excited was I when, ahead of time folks, ( me, the procrastinator) I wrote my post along with mixing up the summer simple recipe, ( I knew it would be a good recipe) even photographed my half recipe. I froze  the remaining litle gems.  Then as I attempted to download my photos, the hitch of the day.   Ah shucks!   I have a camera who is not getting along with my “old girl” MacBook.  Hmm, maybe if Corbin waves his magic wand he can get the photos downloaded.  Perhaps a new computer?  hehe

Thanks for reading.  I hope you enjoy your shortcakes too.

Once again, Corbin is my hero.    He bailed me out.  My tech guru… Now, a photo is posted.

Its been a while. Balance….an interesting concept. You see I struggle with it. I feel selfish spending time writing  talking and doing this blogging thing.  Not only that, living with particular culinary preferences, caloric intakes, all buzz words for, “I don’t like that,” or  possibly just “too many carbs.”  Ah yes, the dreaded carb excuse for not living your life to the fullest (just an opinion).  I have to admit that it thrills me, to just for a moment, tempt my husband with something totally delicious that I have made.    Watching him enjoy and swoon while tasting a delicious morsel is so fun.  Three years ago he lost a significant amount of weight.  He continues to maintain with lots of exercise and some culinary trade offs.  Just trading good stuff for what?  A few crackers from the pantry or out of a box of cereal?  Ah Shucks people!  Seriously, he is pretty diligent about his food for the most part.  I admire and respect.  I am very blessed with a different metabolism, or set of genes I guess.  Whichever, I’m pretty fortunate to only have to deal with a handful of pounds from time to time.

The Hit List

What do you do with a stress fracture?  Well, you get off the couch and “jump” in the pool?  Not so much jump, but maybe if your friend teaches water aerobics  (why, Oh Academia, is aerobics spelled A-”E”-ROBICS?) you might consider burning some of those calories moving around in the water.  Or, I suppose if you like sitting on a spinning bike, which makes me sore, you could burn some calories that way too.

All that was brought on while training and running a 1/2 marathon in Nashville in late April, the Rock and Roll Marathon.  Wow, I have never  run that far.  Don’t laugh all you running geeks.  I know, you think I’m a baby but it was a thrill and I can’t wait to do it again.  I ran it with my daughter and a neighbor, who, by the way was the catalyst for this whole adventure.  I love her for that.  Anyway, it was the thrill of a lifetime, and we both have already registered for next year.   I could chatter on and on but I won’t bore you.

Here we are a week later on a birthday present to Mexico.  Our other, “wanna-be” home away from home.  How lucky am I to get to go to Playa del Carmen with my sweet husband for my birthday?  I got to begin my post race recoop in Mexico.  Yes, Way!  Weather was beautiful,  and “look” no spring breakers.  We were  previously there  with the fam for spring break.   How cool.  We rarely ever travel without the kids.  This was a real grown-ups trip.  Just the twos of us.  Great food, the sun and the sand.  Who knew  second quarter bonus could be so nice?  he he

Another bit of excitement in my otherwise “normal” life.  I began a part-time position in a grocery store bakery.  Currently, baking smaller batches from scratch.  Let’s just  say there is  a difference in the bakery and baked from home with tender loving care.  I guess I just underestimated the different methods of production.  My husband has always been complimentary and reinforced the difference in a home baked item versus from a bakery, any bakery.  ”Amy,” he would say, “you don’t realize how much better it is baked from  home.”  So see, Dorie is right on the money.  From Her Home to ours.    I am  so thrilled to share what I have learned over the years from wonderful bakers and authors like Dorie.  I now am able to share it with my community on a limited basis through my workplace.  We are cooking up some other ideas to market to the shoppers that we hope they love. Its been fun so far and I am hopeful that it continues to be a good trade off for them and for me.  There is some chatter of some classes to be taught and some customer service to the shoppers.  A total foodie thing, I guess.  he he  I’m pretty excited…. work and fun.  How great is that?

Graduation time comes and I usually get to make desserts for a party of two.  This year, I had the pleasure of catering the entire menu for a friend whose daughter is graduating high school.  My daughter and my son Corbin, the photographer person in my life helped me, along with a great friend from the gym, Liz.   Yep, one of my gym rat friends.  Neat huh?  Well, that has kept me busy.

So, my friends…. my list of excuses for not blogging.

Then there is summer…. and blogging and working.    Journaling like this on the net is kind of scary to me.    Is it to you?   However, what makes me think anyone cares anyway, right?  Chattering to the  abyss.  All one of us.  Still I marvel at how much insight and sharing actually one can read on the net/blogs.

Are you bored yet?  Surely, by now you’ve thought to yourself “What is the point of all of this chatter?’ that is if you have made it this far.  Here it is….. I am a sometimes baker/blogger with the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group.  I have remained in the group for sometime.  Without all the fanfare and just trying to keep the nose on my face a little above the water.  If you know what I mean.  Now with all the new activity, like a job, which I haven’t had in a lot of years, I am going to actually be one of those people who picks a recipe.  This month, or actually the month of June.  I will actually get to be a busy body visiting as many blogs as humanly possible thanking them for baking along with me whilst I have my ownself, baked and blogged about a selected recipe from the book, Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.

Thank you for reading, if you have.   I’ve enjoyed the therapy. That’s what it is, right?

Please visit me again.

Playa del Carmen was our Spring Break destination of choice.

No, this wasn’t it, we flew.   It would have taken way too long, but it was a nice way to get back and forth to the Paseo or to breakfast at La Cueva del Chango.   Absolutely, without a doubt, our favorite breakfast and lunch spot. Come to think of it, a great place to have dinner as well!  This trip, I got to have some of their fabulous Mole on my scrambled eggs one morning.  Oh My Gosh!!!  

Of course this is most of what we spent our time doing…..and my daughter (the middle child) was joined by three of her closest friends.  Days of these and sunshine, books, salsa, guacamole…

You know that question in the OSI on the Tuesdays with Dorie website?  The Day Off question?    Gloriously, I am having one of those days off.  The hubs is off in St. Louis for a weekend with his Tri-sport friends.  I am totally in the kitchen…. accompanied by, at the present, one of my favorite chick flicks.  A Nancy Meyers film, (a woman whose work I adore) Something’s Gotta Give.  Do you love it?  

 Dorie, you have provided a certain element of therapy for those who connect with the creative, organic practice of baking.  Dorie, do you know how many lives you have saved, or been the object of seriously funny stories posted  on TWD, how many temper tantrums you have thwarted or how many happy baking experiences you have facilitated???  Dorie…..are you reading?  he he  I hope so.   Oh and how about eating the finished product and sharing with those you love?   Okay now, I am not writing a romance novel, the bread pudding is coming.

   “Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding,” this weeks recipe selection by Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle.  It will be fun to see what she does with this simple concoction.  Check with her for the recipe.  She is an accomplished Pastry Chef whose blog I enjoy visiting to see her beautiful photos and her interpretation of Dorie’s  recipe from Baking From My Home to Yours.  Thank you Dorie for the suggestion of a fine little “bread sponge” such as challah or brioche.  A nearby grocer makes challah,  so for  convenience that was what I bought and toasted for the suggested 10ish minutes. Besides its absorption quality, the buttery sweet flavor was unique to any other bread.  I had a little over 3 ounces of 70% cocoa chocolate chopped up already and to that I added the balance of the bittersweet with 60% cocoa chocolate.  For a person who really likes an intense chocolate flavor, by all means add more.    I liked its simplicity and ease of assembly.  That’s bread pudding for you.  A nice comfort food.  

The End!      {It really is delicious chilled!!!  Enjoy}

After a few satisfying experiences in the kitchen, a passion for making desserts was born. With each success, all it took was the twinkle in someone’s eye to propel me into the sweet abyss. Of course, eating the finished product and sharing them was the payoff and the most fun! Handmade treats, the smell of a warm oven containing some totally delicious favorite. I mean, what can you do but enjoy all the senses of that experience, the aroma, the sight, the taste and in some cases the crunch? Discovery of “the best” of your favorites, truly a very rewarding process. The journey begins, to where it leads, only time will tell.