Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tiger Cakes

One of the very first Dorie Greenspan recipes that I baked was one I found years ago in a magazine.  It was Chocolate Glazed Walnut Tea Cakes.  They were little cakes made with ground walnuts and cinnamon and unbeaten egg whites and baked in muffin tins.  They were topped with a lovely chocolate ganache.  Sound familiar?
Dorie's Chocolate Glazed Walnut Tea Cakes





When I first looked through Baking Chez Moi and saw the recipe for Tiger Cakes I realized that they were a wonderful variation on the Walnut Tea Cakes.  I made them some months ago and was delighted by the flavor but extremely frustrated when these tasty little goodies stuck to the muffin tins.  I made them again the very next day and generously buttered one tin and generously sprayed another.  This time, they came out fairly easily, although I had to run a blade around each cake while it was in the tin.

So yesterday when I was getting ready to bake these cakes I was well aware of the potential sticky problem.  I checked the P&Q on the TWD site and saw a great recommendation from Nancy T. to put a little bit of plain batter in the bottom of the pan.  I decided to do this in addition to spraying the tins thoroughly.

Here's the result:

Most of the Tiger Cakes stuck!


Most of them stuck really badly.  There were only three that came out unscathed after I ran a thin, sharp blade around the edges.  These three were on one side of the tin and I know that my oven heats unevenly.  So maybe these three were a little better baked.  

I decided not to make the chocolate glaze this time because nothing could pretty-up the cakes that fell apart as I removed them from the pan.  I must say, however, that they are very tasty--my husband says "addictive" and he has already eaten half of them.  

I do plan to bake these again but am thinking I may need to invest in a silicone mini-muffin pan.

I'm really looking forward to the experiences of other TWD bakers.  Check out their blogs here.v

11 comments:

  1. Yes, it's very frustrating with sticking issues. But you're persistent! I used one high-quality or one not so good silicone pan. Had no problem with either one!

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  2. I feel your frustration. I prayed hard when I turned flipped my pan over, turning the cakes out onto the cooling rack. That was definitely the most stressful part about making these cakes!

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  3. The walnut cakes look great!!

    I always use Martha Stewart's recipe for cake release, I've never had a cake stick since. It's 1tbsp flour, 1tbsp butter and 1tbsp oil mixed together to form a paste, I swear by it!

    Katie xoxo

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  4. These are delicious cakes, regardless. Your little walnut tea cakes are just gorgeous.

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  5. that's too bad about the sticking, but sounds like it didn't affect the deliciousness! and the walnut version sounds really good...i'll try not to forget about that.

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  6. I did not have a mini muffin pan so I bought a new non-stick one which did the trick quite nicely. I agree with your husband they are addictive, I am glad that I froze half since I have been enjoying one each day.

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  7. Sorry to hear that you had such a challenge with the sticking. I used a huge amount of Pam and didn't have an issue at all. Nevertheless yours turned out quite lovely! The plain batter in the bottom is a great idea!

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  8. Sorry to hear that you had such a challenge with the sticking. I used a huge amount of Pam and didn't have an issue at all. Nevertheless yours turned out quite lovely! The plain batter in the bottom is a great idea!

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  9. Some of mine stuck too, but they were delicious all the same.

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  10. Hey, the taste is what counts, right? Mine looked like yours. At least we didn't make them for company!

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  11. These were delicious regardless of appearance. I used Bakers Joy and a non-stick pan and had no issues with sticking.

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