Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Armagnac Cake

This week’s recipe, chosen for us by LyB of And Then I Do the Dishes, did not sound the slightest bit yummy to me. I don’t like fruit. I don’t like alcohol (except for Kahlua and the amazing mudslide mix my father-in-law buys at Christmas). And I’m sick to death of dark chocolate.
I wasn’t going to make it. I do TWD almost every week, so I figured I could skip a week.
Then #1 Son got hold of the recipe. He likes fruit. He loves alcohol. And he loves dark chocolate.
So I turn over the bulk of this post to my guest blogger:
“I made it with rum and prunes, and it was one of the easiest and tastiest chocolate cakes I have ever made. I would happily make it again.”
He’s a man of few words, at least when there’s no bacon involved.
So I guess that wasn’t the bulk of the post, and I apologize for its brevity. He cut the recipe by two-thirds and baked the result in an oval ramekin.

I had the smallest bite of this cake, and as expected, I didn’t like it. The rest of them did, though:
Husband: I actually thought that the alcohol-softened prunes added quite a bit to the dark fudginess. There was a light fruit note that was quite enticing. I found the glaze a little simple, but it didn’t detract. I didn’t think it was necessary, ultimately. Given my choice, I would have put a little dollop of unsweetened whipped cream on top.
#1 Son: I liked it a lot. It had a really great fudgy texture, but wasn’t too rich and had a real depth of flavor. It was my favorite thing out of the Dorie book so far. Didn’t get much prune or rum flavor, though. I would have liked it with a little orange marmalade on top. That would have enhanced both the dark chocolate and fruit flavors, and been a light counterpart to the fudginess.
#2 Son: It was pretty good overall. The cake was good; I liked the bits of prune.

Sorry, folks — that’s all I’ve got today. Go check out all the other TWD bloggers to see what they did with the cake, and if you want to try it yourself, buy Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, or visit And Then I Do the Dishes, where the recipe will appear.




March 3rd, 2009 at 10:50 am
I giggled at the few words your boy spoke.
Sorry you didn’t like it.
We did.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
What a great post! Everyone gave such nice opinions – we just ate it and didn’t talk about it!
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I’m always so impressed by the reviews given from the men in your life! I really enjoyed this cake, and I was sure that the prunes were going to gross me out. Surprise, they didn’t! Nice job.
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Your family speaks like true food connoisseurs ! Great job!
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I love family cooperation. Especially when it comes to baking. Glad the fambly liked it. Looks really moist and delicious.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Yay for guest bloggers and the nice feedback from the rest of your family. I feel a little overdosed on chocolate myself these days, glad I’m not the only one.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:48 am
That’s great that your family liked it and that your son took charge and made the cake! I liked this cake a lot.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:34 am
I love how the family got into the act, guest bloggin & all! Great job!