Tuesdays with Dorie DAC: Fall Harvest Cake
November 18, 2025 at 9:55 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, DAC, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 CommentsTags: baking, cake
The most fun thing about making this Fall Harvest Cake is that you get to choose what you “harvest” to put in it. Pick some fresh fruit, pick some dried fruit, pick a nut, pick a glaze– it’s like the ultimate “playing around” cake, and I think you’d have to try hard to choose a combo that didn’t work well.
The base for this bounty of fruit and nuts is a sturdy but moist olive oil cake. It’s easily whisked together by hand, and I made it even easier by making it a one bowl affair. A couple of days before I baked this cake, I happened to have devoted a few hours to poaching several quince. Rather than apple or pear, I used slices of sweet, deeply rosy quince that I cut into chunks. For my other add-ins I used seedless red grapes, candied orange peel, dried cranberries and the last dregs from bag of sliced almonds. Quince has a lot of natural pectin, and its poaching liquid basically gels into a glaze when it cools, so I just used that to add some shine and extra fall fruitiness to the top of my baked cake.
Wow, was this good. I don’t do too much baking with grapes, but Dorie’s right that they are a surprise treat here. This cake stayed soft and delicious for four days on my counter (my kitchen has basically zero climate control and is as cold as a root cellar in the fall and winter, else I may have chosen to refrigerate it if keeping it that long).
If you don’t have the book Dorie’s Anytime Cakes by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it every third Tuesday of the month. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!
Tuesdays with Dorie DAC: Cocoa-Swirled Pumpkin Bundt
October 21, 2025 at 12:01 am | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, DAC, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cake
Dorie must have sensed that we’ve almost polished off the cake section of BWD, because she’s come out with a whole new book of simple cakes with interesting flavors to keep us TWDers busy for another few years. Dorie’s Anytime Cakes is out today, and we are celebrating with a festive bundt! This Cocoa-Swirled Pumpkin Bundt is our first recipe from the new book, and also the first real fall vibes recipe I’ve made this year.
This bundt is a moist, spiced pumpkin cake with a sweet cocoa swirl running through the middle like a little smile. I made the Glossy Chocolate Glaze to drizzle over the top, but then accidentally let it rest in the bowl until it cooled more to a spreadable consistency than a pouring one. Still tasty, no worries. It’s a perfect cake to keep on the counter for a few days, helping yourself to a slice here and there. Dorie intends all the recipes in the book to be “kitchen cakes”…easy to make, good to eat, comforting to have around…just like this one. Maybe I need to get a cake dome?
If you don’t have the book Dorie’s Anytime Cakes by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it every third Tuesday of the month. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!
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