Tuesday, June 2, 2009

TWD: Cinnamon Squares


This week’s Tuesday With Dorie recipe was Cinnamon Squares. Was I the only one who pictured more of a cinnamon shortbread when they saw the name of the recipe? Every month when the new list of recipes appears on the site, I put sticky tabs on the pages of the book with the date written on them; you know, so I can plan ahead. I have all these grand ideas at the beginning of the month about getting ahead of schedule, and then I inevitably end up making the dessert the weekend before, often late on Sunday night. Or occasionally Monday, though I do try to avoid that as much as possible. Anyway, this month Mr. Penpen saw me tabbing up the book and when he saw the Cinnamon Squares, he asked, hopefully, “full batch?” And I did intend to make a whole batch since I knew this would be a recipe he would really like, but then we got a little bit backed up on treats, so I ended up making a quarter of a recipe. If this recipe didn’t have so much chocolate in it, I think I could have easily pretended it was a breakfast cake and made the whole recipe. I suppose I could have omitted the chocolate (initially I wasn’t so sure about the combination), but the more I looked at the photo of the swirly frosting on the cake, the more appealing it sounded.




And wow! Am I ever glad I made it with chocolate: this cake is absolutely delectable. I think the espresso powder really brings the cinnamon and chocolate flavors together, and you get wonderful hints of all three. I was mildly concerned that I had overbaked my little cake, but the texture ended up being perfect too. I am a little sorry I didn’t make an entire cake, but now that I know how delicious (and easy!) it is, I will definitely make it again.






I gave this cake a 9 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 4.5. Many thanks to Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures for picking such a winner. You can find the recipe on Tracey’s fabulous site, plus much more. I began reading her blog regularly a couple months ago, and am continually impressed with how many great recipes she puts up there! You can also see what the other TWD bakers thought of this cake via the TWD blogroll.

21 comments:

Cristine said...

Your cake looks fantastic! I love the swirl through the middle!

Hindy said...

I think a little chocolate for breakfast once in a while won't hurt. Glad you enjoyed!

Pamela said...

Your cake looks so great! I made the full batch and it was just so darned good. I already want to make it again. Didn't it smell amazing in the oven, too? Nice job.

Megan said...

That's too cute how he asked if you were making an entire cake! My husband only gets excited about a dessert if it involves lemon.

Which leaves all the chocolate for me! Yay!

vibi said...

OH! Yeahhhh... Margot! You could offer your services to bake for Dorie's next publication!!!

Yours are perfect and exaclty like in the book! WOW! Bravo.

chocolatechic said...

It is ok to have chocolate for breakfast.

I made mine into a breakfast cake.

spike. said...

That chocolate frosting looks amazing! nice work fitting it in this week

Leslie said...

Just beautiful, Margot! I'm glad you liked this one...it has a special place in my chocolate loving heart.

Anonymous said...

Your cinnamon/chocolate ribbon looks beautiful! It looks perfect(ly delicious!)!

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

How beautiful! I do the same thing with dated sticky tabs on the recipes for the month.

Unknown said...

Thanks for baking with me this week and thanks for the kind words :) Your frosting looks so gorgeous and shiny - nice job! I'm so glad you were such a big fan of the cake. As an aside, that's such a neat plate in the last few photos.

Anonymous said...

It looks fantastic! I love the plate too.

Hanaâ said...

Nice looking swirl. Good job!!

Craving Ellie in My Belly said...

Aww, what a cute little cake. Glad you guys liked it!
sara/imafoodblog.com

Kayte said...

How did you get that ribbon to look so beautiful? The most fun this week was looking at the posts and everyone's ribbons of chocolate...they all looked different. It was sort of magical and fun just to see those. What is that little baking dish you used? I can't get a proper perspective of that...about what size is it? Your cake looks really wonderful!

PheMom said...

We really loved it too! Your cake looks beautiful!

Hanaâ said...

Yours turned out great. The swirl turned out really well in yours. Great job!

Btw, I finally posted my bday cake :o)

Anonymous said...

I felt the same about making this - not sure if I would like the combo. It turned out to be surprisingly tasty!

TeaLady said...

Looks like the swirl is in just the right place. Yep - next time - no chocolate. Wanna taste the spice.

Thanks for coming by.

Anonymous said...

gosh, your cinnamon squares look perfect! i love that first picture...makes me want to bite right into it :)

Teanna DiMicco said...

This went PERFECTLY with the chocolate! I loved this one! Yours looks great!