French Fridays with Dorie
French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s newest book, “Around My French Table”. The members of this group, me included, are going to cook our way through AMFT one recipe at a time. It is going to be a very tasty adventure. Please feel free to join in!
I’ve never done a cooking club like this before but a foodie friend of mine Amy cooked her way through “Tuesdays with Dorie” the baking group blog and loved it. Plus I loved reading about the recipes she tried each week.
So when Amy told me about Dorie’s new book I thought I’d join in the group. There’s no committment, in fact once a week there’s a recipe that Dorie assigns based upon what the members vote on. Then on Fridays we post our photo and share our thoughts about the recipe. Of course I can’t share the recipe with you but if you want you can order it on Amazon
Since I just joined the group I’ve missed a few of the Friday posts that have been baked and tested. This weeks was Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake on page 432 in “Around My French Table”. The aroma in my house while baking was heavenly and the taste of this cake was decadent and so smooth.
I have to admit that I didn’t use apples. We had just received a box of pears from Harry & David so I decided it would be the perfect dish to use them in, and it was. I can only imagine how wonderful it will be when I make it with apples.
The recipe also called for an 8″ springform pan. I had a 7″, 9″, 9.5″ and 10″. So I decided to use the 7″. I was concerned if I used the 9″ that the cake would be too thin. The 7″ worked out perfectly. However, instead of cooking it for the 50-60 minutes that it stated, I had to cook it for 90 minutes to insure that the center was cooked properly. At around the 75th minute I placed a piece of tin foil over the top of the cake to make sure it didn’t brown too much. As you can see it looks perfect.
I also decided that I’d plate it up with a scoop of ice cream and then drizzle it with a balsamic reduction that I made earlier. YUM! That’s all I can tell you.
This recipe was so simple and the results were outstanding! If you enjoy this type of group then please join the club, the more the merrier! But, if that’s not your cup of tea then you should definitely consider purchasing Dorie’s book “Around My French Table
Here’s to my first cooking club adventure with French Fridays with Dorie.
Bon Appetit!
Hi, I’m Vicki Bensinger! I have been teaching culinary classes throughout Missouri since 1992. I offer personalized private culinary classes for individuals and small groups in the comfort of your home or organization.
Vicki, your cake came out beautiful! I had to use a 9″ and I’ll say the 7″ was definitely the way to go! Lovely, lovely, lovely!
That looks delicious! And oh my goodness, do I love Harry and David pears. I don’t know if I could bear to bake with them, I just like to eat them right out of the box. Thanks for sharing!
How funny…who knew that an 8 inch springform would be hard to come by! I had the same problem, and ended up using a 7 inch and a 4 inch pan. I love how tall and golden your turned out…great job!
Wow! Using pears sounds lovely! Maybe a mix of both would be equally good. Anyway, I enjoyed reading your post and seeing your pictures. This should be lots of fun cooking our way through this great book. Nice to meet you!
Renee
Your cake looks really lovely! I’ll be baking mine tonight – I love the addition of ice cream!
Thank you everyone for such nice comments. Yes, Steph it did work out well with the 7″ pan, I’m glad I used it. I think the 9″ may have made the cake too thin. What did you find?
Lucy, I know what you mean about the pears but they were so enormous I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat all of them so using them in this recipe seemed perfect.
I do think Kudos Kitchen that using both pears and apples would be delicious. I can’t wait to bake it with apples next time just to compare.
Creating Amazing Meals, I thought the ice cream with the balsamic reduction was incredible. The cold ice cream with the warm cake was luscious plus adding the balsamic reduction gave it a whole new dimension.
Whether the cake is alone, with ice cream or the balsamic reduction you can’t go wrong. It’s really good!
Best part I had all the ingredients in my kitchen already so it was very inexpensive to make. That’s always a plus!
Thanks again for you kind posts.
NICE tall cake. Very pretty!
i just love how tall your cake looks! thanks for the tips for baking in a smaller pan, and i bet the pears would be a great sub. yum!
Your cake is beautiful! I wish the sides of mine looked as brown.
Pears – that’s a great idea! You are the second person that used a 7 inch pan. I loved the batter and will have to get a small spring form pan just to see if it tastes different with the extra batter.
I saw that you used the 7-inch pan, so I hurried over here to see how it turned out. AMAZING, and the pears and balsamic are inspired. Way to go.
I used the 7″ springform pan only because I didn’t have the 8″. You all are so sweet in your comments, thank you.
I did have to keep an eye on the cake after the 60 minutes that was noted in the recipe this the cake was obviously higher than what an 8″ would have been.
I first took a pairing knife and placed it directly in the center of the cake to test it. When it came out wet I knew it wasn’t done. So I gave it another 10 minutes and could see it was still moist from the previous test.
I continued checking until I felt it was done. I did have to cover the top with foil after the 75th minute because I was afraid it would get too brown.
I like the way it turned out and just as Dorie had said it tastes even better as it sets out for a couple of days. I have to admit I took a slice for breakfast this morning and it was even better than the first day.