Dimply Plum Cake -- Sundays with Dorie!

Right now Ian is sitting in front of me on the floor contorted in strange positions striving to capture the perfect picture for the second ever Sunday with Dorie. If you are a little lost and scratching your head about the day, let me explain.

One of our favourite bloggers Hilary and I have not been accepted yet into TWD after waiting and politely sending e-mails for seven weeks now. We just couldn't wait another week longer and with book in hand, decided to start our own baking club. Ok, so my book hasn't arrived in the mail yet, but I was too excited to start! Plus this week was my turn to pick the recipe and I have had my eye on this bright plum cake for a while. Hilary wrote an incredible open letter in her Sunday with Dorie post last week which pretty much sums it up.

I can't really tell you much about the cake right now except that it smells insatiable and I am having a very hard time not eating it off of Ian’s photo shoot. What I can tell you is that the cake is much lighter than expected...oh wait, he's done shooting... Be right back....

....as I was saying, now that I have tasted more than just the crumbs from the pan, I can tell you that the cake is more like a fluffy and airy version of a pound cake accenting the sweet and sour plums perfectly. A hint of cardamom added to the batter pulls the fruit and cake together. The lighter texture could be due to the fact that I switched the oil for the same amount of no-fat yogurt. Yes, I am on a blogger diet, basically meaning that there is no way around all the baking and eating but I know enough kitchen science to play around with the ingredients/calories.

Since I am still waiting on my cookbook I found the Dimply Plum Cake recipe at Smitten Kitchen, where Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook ”Baking From My Home to Yours” never stays on the bookshelf for too long.

Now go check out Hilary's blog Let Her Bake Cake for some more dimply goodness.

Fluffy Cinnamon Rhubarb Muffins -- Lower Fat!

B-Bakes up fluffy and delicious
E-Everyone wins!
S-Starts your day off right
T-Tested four batches just this week!

R-Reliable and quick
H-(w)Hole Wheat goodness
U-Utterly delectable with a cafe au lait
B-Better way to use up that rhubarb
A-Are low fat, Whoot
R-Right, I said Low Fat!
B-Believe it, they are good for you.

M-Mouth watering
U-Undeniable
F-Fantastic for an afternoon snack
F-Fluffy fluffy fluffy!
I-Insatiable cinnamon sugar topping
N-Never had a better muffin (oh it's true)
S-Serve warm, you won’t be sorry!

What else could I say? I first saw these in "fine cooking" but I couldn't take all the fat and sugar, so I played around with the recipe till it was just right! I have been waiting to put these up for a week, but we keep eating the batch before any pictures can be taken. I had to refrain today and keep four aside for photos. With the delicate sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top, there is no way to stop yourself from devouring each and every muffin. Good thing they are low fat! No really, it’s a good thing or else I would have to join the gym.


Fluffy Lower Fat Rhubarb Cinnamon Muffins
adapted from www.finecooking.com

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup zero fat natural yogurt
4 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 egg white
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups 1/4-inch-diced rhubarb
For the topping:
1-1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Heat the oven to 400°F Spray muffin tins with oil. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and blend. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, melted butter, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla until smooth. Lightly stir the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients with a spatula until the batter just comes together; do not over mix. Gently stir in the diced rhubarb. The batter will be thick. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. The batter should mound a bit higher than the tops of the cups.In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Sprinkle a generous 1/2 tsp. of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over each muffin. Bake the muffins until they’re golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. (mine took 18) Rotate halfway through baking for even muffins. Transfer to a rack and let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Carefully lift the muffins out of the pan. Serve warm.

Raspberry Lemon Almost No-Fat Mini Muffins

I'm still on my health kick today so in keeping with the whole grain aspect I baked these wonderful little Raspberry Lemon muffins. And guess what... they have almost NO fat in them! How amazing eh!

They do sport a lot of baking powder and apple sauce to bind everything together which makes the batter light and fluffy. Not to mention all the berries I jam packed into them creates a melt in your mouth muffin. I love the berry right on top just like a beautiful jammy jewel.

Since raspberries are almost five dollars for a half pint right now I would advise buying the frozen ones. I was afraid that they would suck, but they actually really did the trick! Just don’t buy the ones frozen in their own juice or else you’ll end up with red muffins (which is not appropriate since Valentine's Day was a month ago).

Raspberry Lemon Almost No-Fat Mini Muffins
adapted from www.ilovemuffins.ca
makes 24 mini muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. lemon zest
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Put 24 mini muffin papers in a mini muffin tin.
In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest. In a small bowl, beat the egg until foamy. Stir in the buttermilk, applesauce and vanilla. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in the raspberries right at the end and don't stir too much or the batter will turn red. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups and place one raspberry right on top of each muffin. Bake for 15 minutes.

Maple Cranberry Banana Mini Muffins

I know, the pic isn’t nearly as nice as the normal ones, that’s because Ian is still sick at home and I had to use my old school floppy disk camera. Plus I suck at photography and no amount of photoshoping will fix it. Some time soon Ian is going to teach me how to use his beautiful SLR, but I fear the photography gene is not in me and his camera wont help all that much. I even got out his fancy light box to see if it would help take a better picture. It didn’t, it actually created quite the opposite effect, and so, to help my sadness I ate all four of these mini muffins that I so neatly lined up for the photo shoot, plus a couple more.

Its alright though, these mini's were made for healthy snacking. They are packed full of banana that replace most, but not all of the butter, maple syrup instead of white sugar, whole wheat flour, egg whites, orange zest, walnuts, and glorious cranberries. I took one look at them on food blogga (who's pic is so much nicer) and had to put a Canadian spin on them with some maple syrup and walnuts. Also I tried to cut down the butter to a mere 3 tbsp. Not bad eh.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when bakers don’t put enough cranberries in their muffins, or they only put them on top so that it looks like the muffin is crammed with burst in your mouth berries, but really it is just a dry mess underneath. So, I decided to cram these little guys with cranberries, and then place one on the top like a beautiful red ruby.

They are really good in the morning, and I typically have been eating them before dinner, after dinner, at lunch, and throughout the day. So, I guess they make the perfect anytime snack.

Maple Cranberry Banana Mini Muffins
adapted from Food Blogga
Makes about 36 mini muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
4 egg whites
2 ripe bananas
zest of one orange
2/3 fresh or frozen, unthawed cranberries
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add mini paper muffin cups to mini muffin pan. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and eggs; beat until smooth. Add the bananas and orange zest and lightly beat until blended. Add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts. Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Bake 13-15 minutes, or until the tops are golden.