TWD: Plum Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan

                              















This week's (well, last week's - I'm late) recipe was Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake. The recipe was contributed by baker Mary Bergin. As you can see from the title of my post, I substituted plums for the nectarines.

This was a pretty straight forward, relatively simple cake to make. Reading my fellow bloggers comments about their experience making this cake, several mentioned it did not bake in the alloted time frame. I set the timer for the maximum time given in the recipe, at which time it started to give off a burnt smell. Usually I can tell by the scent of a cake when it is done; however there was no wonderful aroma permeating my kitchen like I am used to when I bake a cake.

After flipping the cake out of the pan, it showed no signs of burning - whew. It also smelled really good and I was looking forward to serving and devouring this creation. The crumbs from the pan had great flavor, which gave me high hopes for this cake.

Unfortunately this cake was not a hit for me or for the girls as I can tell. It certainly looked pretty, but was just OK. I was hoping for more of a WOW factor. I made this for girls night, and though everyone ate their slice, there was no rave reviews I normally receive for my desserts.

Success meter (1-3): 2

Plums and pluots.

Oh so pretty!

The fruit is layered on top of a brown sugar butter mixture.

The streusel filling.

The scent was reminiscent of...

something I know...

I just can't place it.

Something tasty.

Ready for toasting!

I do believe the center collapsing is normal.

To even out the cake, I placed parchment paper over

the cake, and used a bottom of a springform pan

to press the edges even with the center.

Whoala!

The cake released with no problems.

The drippings tasted so good...

Beautiful!

Even though the batter rearranged the slices somewhat.

The neighborhood crows.

For the recipe, visit this week's hosts: 

Marlise of The Double Trouble Kitchen

and

Susan of The Little French Bakery

To see other takes on this cake go to the LYL page over at Tuesdays with Dorie

for links to all the bakers that attempted this dessert.

Book Eighty-Six: Joy of Cooking

by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker,
and Ethan Becker


                                                           Blintzes


Our recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie due next week is Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake. I was going to make a plum version for a get-together this weekend, alas, it was cancelled. There was no way I was going to make the cake and have it sitting around the house. With the four day holiday I could not send it into work for the boys to devour.

What to do with a bowl full of plums? Blintzes seemed to be the perfect vehicle for sautéed plums and pluots. I sliced up the fruit and sautéed them in a little butter and a sprinkle of sugar. Fill the blintz with some non-fat Greek yogurt and the fruit, roll it up, add a dollop of yogurt on top with some more fruit and a light dusting of powdered sugar and you have yourself a beautiful and delicious breakfast!

Success meter (1-3): 3

Three tablespoons of batter makes one blintz.

 Make sure to pour the batter into the center of the pan,

 tilting the pan back and forth to distribute the batter evenly.

Don't do as I did, swirled the batter into the pan.

The others turned out perfect.

These were cute - though next time I won't tuck the ends in.

I made one where I just folded the blintz in thirds and left

the ends exposed, which had a pretty, ruffled look.

Unfortunately I do not have a picture to show you.

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