Thursday, October 24, 2013

Warm Chocolate and Banana Tart Pound Cake for Dorie's Birthday

Photo Source: Desserts by Pierre Herme


It is Dorie Greenspan's birthday today, so our French Fridays with Dorie group is celebrating by each making a recipe from one of Dorie's books.  Hooray! 
 
I have owned Desserts by  Pierre Herme, written by Dorie Greenspan, for around two years and never used it before.  Accordingly, what better book to use for a birthday celebration recipe?  I didn't have the energy or time to make something too complicated, so I chose the Warm Chocolate and Banana Tart, pictured above from the book.  And indeed, that is what I made.  Unfortunately, it slipped out of the fridge, and this is all I have to show you:
 

Yup, a smashed mess.  However, you have no idea how good this smashed mess tasted - I momentarily thought about tossing the thing out and forgetting it ever happened, but once you taste rum-soaked raisins with ooey gooey chocolate ganache and a buttery tart shell, you can't go back.  It tasted devine.  You cannot throw it out - it would be sacrilege. 

I wished fervently that I had a family of four to share this with and dig in with spoons and eat the tart as it was, but alas, there is just me.   I knew that the work crowd was not going to entertain the idea of eating a smashed tart, so I decided to turn the tart into a cake using Dorie's Perfection Pound Cake recipe from Baking- From My Home to Yours.  The end result looked kind of like one of those giant cookies that they sell in the US:
 
 
However, it saved the tart, and I have now made two Dorie recipes for her birthday instead of one.  Here's a peek inside the cake:


This passed the "will I eat it?" test at work, as it all disappeared.  Alas, I know that it did not taste as good as the tart, which I will make again for a special occasion - it was that good.

To make the tart (and I highly recommend that you do), you can find the recipe for the filling online here.  For the tart shell, I just used Dorie's dream sweet tart dough (the book recipe makes too much dough, so I used the recipe out of From Around My French Table which cuts it down to one tart shell). You can get that recipe online from Dorie herself here.  It is a no shrink, no roll recipe - just blitz it in the food processor and press it into the pan.

If you want to make the Perfection Pound Cake on its own rather than to glue together a shattered tart, you can find the recipe here.  I used a half recipe to bind my tart together. 

Happy birthday Dorie!

19 comments:

  1. Happy birthday, Dorie!!! Your cake looks phenomenal!

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  2. wow that looks amazing - of course you couldn't chuck it in the bin - I would have eaten too much of it rather than put it in a cake - it would probably make great truffles if you rolled it into balls

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  3. I'm amazed that you turned the tart into a cake! I think Dorie would be quite pleased.

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  4. What a lovely tribute to a woman that inspired so many recipes and challenges! :D

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  5. Oh I loved this post ! How utterly wonderful that you included the photo of the dropped but incredibly delicious tart. I love it when the Doristas "keep it real" as we sometimes have quite some adventures in the kitchen. Unexpected ones, that is. And what a genius save. My hips would have been all the bigger as I would have simply grabbed a fork :)

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  6. Gaye, I think this is a great, great Post and I know Dorie will love it. I also baked something from her Baking Cookbook. I don't have the PH cookbook but your scrambled tart looks delicious - no matter what - so I think I will go to the library and pick it up.

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  7. I'm all in favour of smashed messes - and also this end cake!

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  8. What a fabulous save and what a wonderful birthday tribute to Dorie!

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  9. I am sure Dorie would enjoy both of these dishes - look so good!

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  10. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon

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  11. I LOVE this! Three cheers for you for turning the smashed tart into a cake - it was a brilliant idea! Many, many thanks for your sweet, sweet birthday wishes and the tart/cake/brand-new creation. xoDorie

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  12. Oh no! I am so sorry your tart fell, but your make up dessert sounds pretty delicious as well. (I love that you featured both)

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  13. Loved the smashed mess...it looks delicious. That's one of Dorie's recipes that I haven't tried. I love her tart dough too - so easy, I sometimes forget!

    But your cake looks wonderful too - great save. I'm sure your co-workers appreciated it!

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  14. So sad that you smashed your tart, but great save! The flavor combination sounds wonderful.

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  15. Great save…sorry about your tart! Sounds so yummy!

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  16. I'm in awe at your creativity and resourcefulness. :-)
    Way to go, Gaye!

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  17. A perfect save plus two great bakes!

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  18. You get a huge gold star for innovation. I love the way your saved your tart. It looks amazing!

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Thanks for dropping by!