Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Tuesdays with Dorie: Peach Upside-Downer

Too much coffee today, by far. Powering up and down the avenue in cowboy boots, shouting happy greetings construction workers and a totally unexpected flock of fat chickens in a Bed-Stuy front yard. Feeling so civic-minded I went and voted.

The oven debacle caused a little backup in the TWD action, but now I'm overcharged and moving forward. Skipped last week's peanut butter criss-crosses, having made them many times before and found them some of the best peanut butter cookies ever. I made the week before's shortbread on time, but had to freeze it until I could bake it. Those buttery little bars, minus the espresso and plus hazelnut syrup, looked a bit like this:
This week's recipe was an upside-down cake, peach or cranberry. It being September in New York, not November in MA, I went for the peaches.
The cake was very similar in structure to this one that I knocked out for the Heavenly Cake Bakers group. The main difference seems to be that for Rose's version, the sugar was caramelized before lining the pan, instead of just heated with butter. I liked both versions of this classic, but found that this most recent effort got a little soggy after one day. I used almonds in place of walnuts and didn't glaze it. I did, however, lay out an almost fanatically precise mise-en-place, which is not my usual way of working. I was inspired by Dorie's tutelage in the New York Times, and I wanted to take a perfect picture of it all.
Off to power on through the rest of the day. How strange it is to be easing back into having a schedule again.

3 comments:

Vicki said...

Perfect time to make this great looking cake with peaches on sale everywhere!

Nichicakes said...

arent things so much easier when you mise first! i dont always do it but i love when i do

Beth said...

That cake looks so great! You're inspiring me to see if I can still find some peaches in the farmers' market!