Everyday Dorie: Brown Sugar-Spice Cake

September 22, 2023 at 9:42 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, everyday dorie, groups, simple cakes, sweet things | 8 Comments
Tags: everyday dorie

I found it kinda funny that the title of this recipe, Brown Sugar-Spice Cake, makes no mention of the plums that are its key component. For the past few years, I just flipped by it, thinking it was a “plain” spice cake, until I really took a look at the ingredients list before nominating it for the month. Fortunately, Italian prune plums, which I don’t really like eating out of hand, but are great for baking, are at the greenmarket now.

The batter has a bit of cornmeal, and of course brown sugar and spice. A friend recently brought me a little tin of something called “maple dessert spice” that I asked her to get me from an amazing spice shop in Montreal…the blend has stuff like vanilla, mace and tonka and is like the best thing I’ve ever smelled. I replaced the spices in the recipe with some of that mix, and it was fabulous with the plums. I made a third of the recipe in my six-inch pan, and was only able to squeeze in two plums cut in fourths. I love the way the batter waved and buckled up and around the plums, which basically turned into jammy bloops in the baked cake. So cute! A honey glaze finishes this off and gives it some extra sweetness and moisture.

For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all of our cakes this week.

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Okay, first of all that Maple Dessert Spice sounds really fantastic. Did she get some for me and leave it with you? Ha ha. I love the look of your cake…I see what I should have done with my six inch pan…I should have made a third of the recipe like you did so my plums would poke out the top. Thanks for the tip, I noted it in my book. I used a half of the recipe because, well, my math is just that excellent in converting pan and batter usage. 😉

Comment by Kayte Gerth— September 23, 2023 #

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- I like your tall cake! I just wanted to use one egg and not split it…
  
  Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— September 24, 2023 #
  
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  - You are sweet to stay that, I feel better already. The great advantage of cooking/baking in a group with others is that I learn a lot from how everyone does everything…and cutting back recipes now that it is just the two of us is a really necessary and wonderful skill to work on. I thank you for your contributions…always. 🙂
    
    Comment by Kayte Gerth— September 24, 2023 #
- Generally it’s easy to divide by the number of eggs and then use a calculator for the rest of the ingredients by weight!
  
  Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— September 26, 2023 #
  
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  - Thanks, Mardi…I always admire your minis and marvel at how you get there.
    
    Comment by Kayte Gerth— September 29, 2023 #
Yours looks so cute…and that spice mix sounds amazing!

Comment by isthisakeeper— September 23, 2023 #

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What an amazing cake with waves and buckles? I love going to spice shops and smelling everything.

Comment by Shirley @ EverOpenSauce— September 23, 2023 #

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Yours is so pretty! Love the look of the cake around the plums!

Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— September 26, 2023 #

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