TWD: Muffins and Cookies and Cake, Oh my!

Whew! January is almost over, which brings me back to the world of blogging.

Hi. Hello. I've missed seeing all the lovely blogs and even lovlier baked treats. I needed a break from blogging, but I kept up with the baking. It's been a fantastic month of Tuesdays with Dorie recipes, too. There hasn't been one stinker in the bunch.

Here we go in reverse order... first up, or I guess that would be last up, Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort chose Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake.



I wasn't expecting to like this, what with the dreaded cinnamon-chocolate combination in the swirl. But guess, what? I loved it, it was SO fantastic. The cake was nice and moist and the swirl was sweet and tasty. I made a few modifications, namely, leaving out the orange zest from the batter and the nuts and raisins from the swirl. Care was also taken to make sure the swirl was well hidden beneath layers of batter. I also used my 1/2 sized bundt pan for the first time... the cake was so adorable to boot!



Before that, Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness chose Lemon Poppyseed Muffins.


I made these as directed and they were just perfect. Lemony and crunchy from the poppy seeds, moist and tender from the sour cream in the batter. They weren't terribly sweet but that's OK because they were muffins, not cake. No complaints at all with these little yummies.

Next, Margo of Effort to Deliciousness chose Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines.


My madeleines, without their fluff filling, or chocolate glaze were the poor cousins of those lucky madeleines that were made like they were supposed to be. (I soooooo did not need an almost-full jar of marshmallow fluff in my pantry, so I skipped the filling. Plain old laziness dictated that mine would not get a dip in the chocolate pool.) But you know what? They still tasted awesome, like bite-size chocolate cakes.


Of course, they didn't have the much-coveted hump on the back. But, really, who cares? Not me and not my taste buds.

And finally, that brings us to the first recipe of 2011, Midnight Crackles, which were chosen by Laurie of Slush (and founder of TWD) and Julie of Someone's in the Kitchen for the third anniversary of TWD.


It's been a while, but I seem to remember these might have had some spices in them... whatever it was, I left them out. I wanted pure, unadulterated chocolate.

And this cookie delivered just that. They were seriously good. If they would have had some chocoalte chips in them, they would have been the best ever Chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Underbaking them a little was key, by the way.

OK, folks, that's January! In a nutshell. If you'd like to see the recipes, check out the lovely ladies' blogs, or get ahold of a Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking, From my Home to Yours.

TWD: Double Apple Bundt Cake

Lynne of Honey Muffin chose Double Apple Bundt Cake for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

This moist and tasty cake was a HUGE hit this Sunday when friends and family came over for the football game (go, Bengals!) My husband pulled the old "I'm inviting people over for the football game, and oh by the way, can you feed us?" Not in those words exactly, but you know the routine... the puppy dog eyes, the hopeful smile.

What the heck... I had a cake to make, might as well have a gang of hungry football fans to feed it to.

As I said, this was much loved. Even my husband, a die-hard chocolate fan and not an apples-and-cinnamon fan, kept going back for seconds and thirds. With both shredded apple and apple butter in the cake, I can see why it was so moist and apple-icious.

Thank you Lynne for choosing this recipe. You'll find the recipe on Lynne's blog or in Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours".

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

This week was a mini-cake double header for me, since we were out of town on spring break last week (more on that later). This week's official cake was Swedish Visiting Cake, chosen by Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs. I also made last week's cake, Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake, brought to us by Erin of When in Doubt…Leave it at 350.


In a word, I thought they were both terrific cakes, and if I had to pick a favorite? Well, it's kind of like asking me whether I liked Sammy Hagar's version of Van Halen better or David Lee Roth's. My answer would be, whichever one I was listening to at the time. Whichever one of these cakes I was noshing on right then, that one was my favorite.

I made the Swedish Visiting Cake as written in the book.


I did change up the Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake since I'm not a fan of either coffee or walnuts. Mine was coffee and espresso-less and I used ground almonds in place of the walnuts.


My youngest, who is notoriously picky, really liked the bundt cake too. I made two minis from a quarter of the recipe and he ate 1 1/2 of them.

I'm going to try to get a few pictures of our trip to Washington D.C. and surrounding area up in the morning, but for now, mom needs some sleep.

If you'd like to see either recipe, please visit Nancy or Erin's blog. Or you can get your hands on a copy of Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, from My Home to Yours".

TWD: All in One Holiday Bundt Cake

Hey folks! I feel like I need to issue a serious apology for not having posts of any real substance these days. It's been a serious lack of posts or "here's the recipe, see you later" around here lately. Sorry! Hopefully I can get my act together after the holidays.

Anyway, for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, I made the All in One Holiday Bundt Cake which was chosen by Britin of The Nitty Britty.


This puppy is going in the freezer until Saturday when our family gets together for Thanksgiving. I'll also add the cream cheese icing glaze then (ooooh, can't wait!).

For now, I tried an unglazed piece so I could report on the taste. As I suspected, it is VERY good. Mostly, the pumpkin and spice flavor come through, but every now and there there's a little tart cranberry surprise. I grated half of the apple and cut the other half into tiny little pieces so there were no distinct hits of apple. But I'll bet it helped add to the moistness of the cake.

All in all, I'd call this cake a success.

OK, if you'd like to try this yourself, check out the recipe at Britin's blog, or better yet, get the book "Baking, from My Home to Yours", by Dorie Greenpspan.

TWD: Classic Banana Bundt Cake

Mary of The Food Librarian chose Classic Banana Bundt Cake for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe.

This was the first time in a *long* time that I've made an entire recipe AND my picky family helped devour the whole thing. Usually I'm reducing recipes as far as I can while still being able to do the math. Or, I'm parading around the neighborhood, Tupperware container in hand, trying to pawn dessert off on my unsuspecting neighbors.


There was no sharing with this humble cake. It was perfectly moist and delicious... and it stayed that way the next day and the day after that.

Mary, I thank you and my family thanks you! Excellent choice.

If you'd like to see the recipe, please check out Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, From my Home to Yours", or stop by Mary's blog for the recipe (Mary's site is awesome, by the way).