TWD - Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake

It may be Thursday not Tuesday but I am so glad I decided not to skip this one. Cindy of Everyday Insanity chose Dorie's Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake and it was sensational!

In my opinion there is nothing 'plain' about this moist cake flavoured with brown sugar and studded with juicy blueberries. I didn't even bother with a dusting of icing sugar over the top. I think my tin was a little big because this looked more like a slice than a cake but it cooked in barely 25 minutes and I loved the dimply top.

We are having some really chilly weather here at the moment and this was perfect with a hot cup of tea. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to grab another cuppa and curl up under the doona until the boys wake up!

Make sure you check out Cindy's blog for the recipe. This one's a keeper!

TWD - Caramel Pots de Creme

Well after my disastrous plastic-wrap-filled Chocolate Pots de Creme I knew I had to come through with the caramel version chosen by Peggy the Baker.

We definitely didn't need 8 of these sitting around so I adjusted the recipe to make 2 x /2 cup serves using 1/2 cup cream, 1/4 cup milk, 2 egg yolks and 2 tbs sugar.

I loved Cakelaw's idea of turning them out so I used metal dariole moulds and sprayed them with olive oil spray before filling. I also used alfoil instead of plastic wrap to prevent a repeat of last time.

The taste test ...

Very rich and very caramel with a touch of bitterness that came from taking my sugar right to a deep amber before adding the cream and milk. I served it with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream and some crushed honey-roasted cashews. This little bit of crunch was the perfect addition. We really enjoyed these but I have to admit I rushed to brush my teeth afterwards from all that sugar.

Thanks for a great pick Peggy! I am well and truly over my fear of caramel now and it was great to have another opportunity to play around with it. Make sure you visit Peggy the Baker for the recipe.

TWD - Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

Whoops, better make that Wednesday with Dorie! These pesky Tuesdays are coming around so quickly these days. I do love a scone though so I wasn't going to pass on these Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones chosen by Patricia from Life With a Whisk.

I've discovered my best scones come with the help of the food processor so that's what I did again. I use the plastic dough blade and am very careful not to overmix. The dough here was very sticky but I resisted the urge to dump in some more flour. I made them exactly as per the recipe and was not disappointed.

The taste test...

Just as Dorie says, sweet but not too sweet and just how I like them. Oats and nutmeg seem to be a perfect match and these were just delicious. I ate 2 straight out of the oven (it was my lunch so don't judge me!) and then another one this morning. My 2yo taste tester also approved. The rest are stashed in the freezer.

Thanks for a great pick Patricia! You can find the recipe on her blog.

TWD - Basic Marbled Loaf

We've just had a lovely long weekend here but I have to admit it has messed me up a bit. With 2 short weeks in a row I never seem to know what day it is anymore! Luckily I remembered it was Tuesday today and that means it's TWD time.

This week Carol from The Bake More chose Dorie's Basic Marbled Loaf Cake. Rather than use the playing around suggestions I decided to take a trip down memory lane and make a neapolitan cake. These were everywhere when I was a child and mimic the colours of neapolitan icecream which had chocolate, strawberry and vanilla flavours side by side. In my house the vanilla always got left till last!

I split my batter into 3 lots keeping one plain, adding melted chocolate to the second and healthy dose of pink food colouring to the third. I have to admit I was pretty pleased with the result as my cake was not only pretty but moist and yummy.

We've had a fair bit of cake around here recently because of Oscar's birthday and he's taken to asking for 'more birthday' (meaing cake). Very cute!

Thanks to Carol for a great pick! You can find the recipe on her blog under today's date.

TWD - A Tourtely Apple Tart

This week Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose Dorie's Tourtely Apple Tart. I took a few shortcuts with the recipe so not surprisingly I didn't end up with the slim and elegant tart Dorie describes in the book!

Basically the filling for this tart is apples cooked down with brown sugar, nutmeg and apple cider with a little browned butter thrown in for good measure. I didn't have enough apples on hand so I threw in a couple of pears as well. I used apple juice instead of apple cider, a sour cream pastry rather than Dorie's always awesome sweet tart dough and left out both the raisins and almonds.

The verdict? Fabulous. While I'm sure the original is even better this was delicious. But then again I love apple pie of any variety. With a scoop of icecream on top it was the perfect comfort food on a cool and wet day. My apologies for the awful photo. It was late and dark and this was the best of a truly terrible bunch.

Thanks to Jeanette for a great pick this week. Make sure you check out her blog for the recipe and the TWD blogroll to see how everyone else did.

On another note, my big boy is turning 2 tomorrow! Watch this space for some birthday pics including what I hope will be an awesome birthday cake!