Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Dimply Plum Cake (TWD)

Finally, we're breaking away from cookies this week! The Tuesdays With Dorie bakers worked on some really delicious cookie recipes for the past few weeks (the Granola Grabbers and Malted Whopper Cookies were terrific!), and I welcomed the break to do something different.

Michelle of Bake-en selected Dimply Plum Cake as this week's recipe. It was a really timely pick as we now have an opportunity use the last of the summer fruits before we head into autumn.

I've previously made this recipe using an 8x8 pan with wonderful results, so this time around I wanted to see how this cake would fare in a mini loaf pan, which had compartments for 8 minis (I reduced the oven to 325F and baked 20-25 minutes). This was a great opportunity to use another fruit, so I decided to make the original recipe as well as one of Dorie's suggested variations.

I made the base dough with any flavors/spices, divided the base dough in half and then added the appropriate spices/flavors. I ended up making the following variations:

- plums, lemon and cardamom
- peaches, lemon and basil (continue to scroll down to see pics)

Instead of using plum halves, I sliced the plums into quarters and laid down three pieces of fruit per mini-loaf. I guess this loaf took the description dimply pretty seriously:

The minis turned out just as wonderfully as a whole cake. I actually think that they held up better as time passed. This cake kinda turns to mush after a couple of days...the mini loafs held up for 4 days.

The fruit turns "jammy" and the flavors intensify after baking in the oven:

I love this cake, as the fruit on top tells you exactly what you're eating:
The peach version was an unexpected and delicious surprise, as it calls for some chopped basil in the dough. The basil lent a sweet, herbaceous flavor that complemented wonderfully with the sweet peaches.
This is a wonderful breakfast treat, and it comes together in a snap. For the recipe, check out Michelle's site. To see what the other TWD bakers created, check out the blogroll.



20 comments:

  1. Your cakes look really cute!! I absolutely loved this cake.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the photos! The peach version looks especially good, though that may be because I disliked my plum cake so much. Really beautiful photos -

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love these mini-loaves! I ended up making a cute 4" cake. The basil and peach combo sounds great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad to see someone use the basil.

    I wasn't brave enough.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love those loaves! So cute! I totally have to go buy loaf pans now. Great job!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! The colors in your pictures are amazing... what a feast for the eyes, apparently for the tastebuds also! LOL
    The textures of the peel and batter gives an amazing feeling of rusticity!
    Wonderful job you done...

    ReplyDelete
  7. i love the idea of peaches and basil...yum!! i did apples and cinnamon, i'm so basic. fab job!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mmmmm - this looks wonderful! I love your mini-loaves!

    -Amy
    www.singforyoursupperblog.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. They all look beautiful! The photos are really lovely! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the mini loaves, and both variations look wonderful. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  11. they look beautiful! i'd like one of each!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Both variations look wonderful! Good job making both of them! I am afraid of the peach and basil combo.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow, those look fabulous! The crumb on that cake looks perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think this is exactly how I would make it next time and with the peaches - yours looks beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  15. They both look really lovely. The basil addition sounds very interesting and surprising. But it looks so good.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your mini loves are wonderful. There is something incredibly appealing about the rectangle shape with this cake and the smaller pieces of fruit make the tops beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your cake is beautiful! I am new to TWD and am so inspired by your photos--everything you make looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Peaches look wonderful! I will have to try that!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Everything about this plum cake is beautiful. Anything mini is a treasure. Peaches and basil-interesting combination, I couldn't choose a favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This looks great! I love the peach versions people have been making!

    ReplyDelete