Amy Ruth

This is short, make no mistake, these mini-cupcakes are definitely sweet. Sweet and tender, caramel filled, sea salt sprinkled, chocolate butter cream topped, bites of sweet chocolate goodness.

We baked from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake Book. As the story goes the recipes are in the book. I’m willing to bet somewhere on the web there will be a recipe floating around. Check out the book at your local library and enjoy all the lovely suggestions from Martha’s fabulous folks.  Of course, then there is  the debate of adding yet one more baking cookbook to the collection.  Go ahead, you know you want it.

Thanks for stopping by, pardon me while I go have a cupcake… Yum

Sugar B. aka Betty of Eat My Cupcake is the  one, responsible for organizing this little sugar stirring, chocolate eating baking group.  Check her out for the other wise people who joined in on the fun.

• Megan of My Baking Adventures  is the featured member this week.  She has a lively blog and I know you would be impressed with her energy in the kitchen as you can see on her many posts each week.  She will also have the recipe for Tiramisu on her blog so stop by and give her a clap, clap clap.  In case you are interested in joining in the weekly blogging routine check out TWD right here and get the details.  

This baking group I participate with each week, on Tuesdays, is titled “Tuesdays With Dorie.”  To clarify if you’re not familiar, our 350 some bakers bake weekly, post on Tuesdays and fight the calories the rest of the days of the week.  You should hear the stories about how we produce scaled down recipes for photographic and tasting purposes.  Oh sometimes, we make the whole recipe and then sometimes  we cut the recipe down to 1/4 or even less.  One of our members who is famous for trimming those delicious, Dorie Greenspan inspired, and lovingly written recipes from Baking From My Home to Yours, is Nancy at the Dogs Eat the Crumbs.  She is genius with her calculations.   One of the many benefits of making friends in the blog world is the exchange of information.

Each week I ponder how I can actually sample the finished product and offer an appealing presentation of the remaining baked good for sharing.  You see, I figure if I am going to invest time and resources why not share Dorie’s lovely creations “with friends.”  This week’s recipe was perfect.  A “pick me up” excuse.  I used my 9 x 13 baking pan so I could present squares, while still having a morsel for tasting.  Isn’t that smart?  he he  

Tomorrow “my friends” at the gym will get to have a little “pick me up.”  Yea, I know, you think all those fitness buffs don’t eat like this.  Guess what?  Sometimes, they do.  Surprised?  They do it behind closed doors.  he he  Can’t let all their secrets out.  Shhhh.

Typically, I intentionally  follow Dorie’s original recipe.  I can then later adjust as I like in the future.  The only variation was the use of a 9 x 13 pan rather than 9″ rounds.  The second was the choice of liqueurs.  I used Di Saronno Amaretto for the syrup.  Also I used chocolate shavings rather than small chopped chocolate.  It was simply a softer texture to compliment the soft creamy coating of the mascarpone and cream.  

Tiramisu trio of flavors reminds me of one of the fancy schmancy coffee drinks typically in the $4 to $5 price range.    Mascarpone and cream along with the espresso and chocolate.  Oooo La La.  Hope you enjoyed!  I surely did.  

My morning coffee is usually brewed from beans obtained from a locally owned and operated  roaster, Lakota Coffee.    I like a couple of different varieties from there, Tanzania Peaberry and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.    What is your favorite coffee?

Thanks to Kim of Scrumptious Photography for choosing a favorite flavor for this weeks recipe.  Kim is well known around TWD for her fabulous photography as well as her baking abilities.  Make sure you stop by her blog and feast your eyes.  You’ll leave hungry, so make sure you have a back up plan.  :-)   You can also find the recipe there.

Dorie’s Chocolate Cream Tart is the perfect dessert for a Celebration, a Supper Club, a Birthday or a Holiday Gathering.  Since today is my birthday, I’m thinking the birthday angle.  I have a mental picture  of it as a woman dressing for a dinner out.  A pretty little black dress, the perfect  shoes and the all important accessories.  Luscious chocolate cream made from your favorite chocolate,  layered on top of a  chocolate shortbread tart dough, finished with the lightly sweetened whipped cream.  I think I must have my mind on “Birthday Dinner.”  Ya think?  he he  

Thank you Dorie for another “feel good” dessert.  The Chocolate Cream Tart is definitely a winner (so chocolatey) in my collection of favorites from Baking From My Home to Yours. 

I’m off celebrating getting old-er.  I hope all the bakers at TWD enjoyed this weeks Chocolate Cream Tart.  Stayed tuned for next weeks selection Tiramisu.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Isn’t it fun to make new friends?

Proscrastination = photos later.  I will tell you that I am going to enjoy this tart today….hope you do too.  I made the elements last night and assembled this morning hoping for a photo shoot before school….ooops, guess I will have to wait til this afternoon.  Darn!!  So for now please enjoy a cupcake photo.

Some Birthday Cupcakes I made earlier.  

Playa del Carmen was our Spring Break destination of choice. We are beginning to feel very much at home there.

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}

The family says “It smells divine.”  Actually, in this particular case family  is defined as my almost 19 year old daughter.  The aroma of chocolate baking in the oven truly is one of the answers to those life questions.  What smell does it for you?  For me, warm chocolate and there is one small little smell, a puppy’s breath.  Is that weird?

Then I did a little poking around the internet.  I  remembered reading another blog around Valentine’s  Day about foods that are thought to bring about feelings of love.  You guessed it, prunes is among those foods listed.  You are welcome to read the list if you are curious.  Then I found the Armagnac Primer in the New Yorker Magazine here where I learned  there definitely is an art to sipping Armagnac, among other points.   When searching for the appropriate cognac for this cake I questioned my local wine & spirits shop about its flavor, a determining factor for acquisition.  I have acquired quite a collection over time.   Dawn was hilarious,  after she giggled she told me it tasted like gasoline.  Anyway, I giggled too as she explained to me its high alcohol content was definitely  handy for the flambe we were doing with this cake.  First it was learning about the flavor of this cognac and then the price.   Of course after I picked myself up off the floor I realized I would most definitely be using the brandy I had in my cabinet.  After all,   this cake wants 2 ounces.  Enough for a fun flambe of the prunes.  Yes, it does have them. What a luscious, velvety result complimenting the bittersweet chocolate with depth of flavor, richness and the all important moist texture.  

Yesterday was a baking day, which I loved.  First there was a carrot cake, followed by the much anticipated  and thank you so very much Lyb of And Then I Do the Dishes,  for finally choosing the lovely Armagnac Chocolate Cake.   This cake was selected from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.   My last little project was Dorie’s cheescake we made earlier and I varied it as a Chocolate Marble with Oreo crust.  Don’t worry all the delicious calories are going elsewhere.  I was reminded by the little voice in my head plus the other swim suit wearing, spring break going, college age, female people, oh yea that half-iron man training middle aged male person, that we just can’t afford to have this delicious kind of food around the house each week.    Like they think they can tell me what to do……ha ha ha.  One can usually locate some willing donors.  

After a little shopping outing today in St. Louis, we returned to the home for dessert.  An inquiry was made about whether this weeks selection was going “somewhere else” or could we have some of it.  I remarked “oh, you probably won’t like it.”  Have you tried telling your picky children that the dessert they are about to eat has prunes in the ingredients list?  Yea right!  Regardless, I set about cutting a piece for Corbin to photograph.  I left it sitting about, turned my back and listened momentarily as I heard the silverware drawer open and close.  After a few moments, my daughter said “Mom why did you think I wouldn’t like this?  It’s really good!”  Secretly I giggled never admitting my reasons.  

We really liked it so much and I think it will find a nice place among the list of chocolate tortes “for friends.”  I would love sharing this and will definitely make it again.  Remember, its possess items on the list of foods of love.  I hope you enjoyed yours too.  

This recipe selection comes from Tuesdays With Dorie baking group, selected by the wonderful baker Lyb of And Then I Do the Dishes,  where she has graciously added the recipe to her post.  So…Go Ahead, stop by and get it.  Its is totally worth the calories.

Off to the gym!

Thank you for coming by for a visit.  Don’t forget that this weekend is Daylights Savings Time, right?  So, you will definitely need to squeeze in a little more shut-eye now and then.