I've never heard of Savarin before Tuesdays With Dorie, and was afraid it might be one of those two-day thousand-step recipes. Happy surprise! It was easy. And tasty.
And I'll fess up to something else. I had no idea what "poire eau-de-vie" was. Thought it might be some sort of fancy pear sauce from the gourmet section of the grocery store. Looked and looked in vain. So when the first LYL entry mentioned "brandy", it was a light bulb moment. No wonder I couldn't find it at the grocery - I needed a liquor store! Off I headed to the Smokerise Bottle Shop (where they have EVERYTHING). And yes, they had pear brandy, but maybe you can see from the picture what the problem was. Uh, no thank you, I don't think I'll spend $44 for something to sprinkle on cake. Although I was tempted to buy it just to figure out how they got that pear in the bottle. They had pear-flavored vodka, but is it appropriate to put vodka on a cake? I didn't know. The empty-handed ride home was a disappointment. Fast forward 24 hours and a second liquor store. This time I came away with a $15 bottle of pear liqueur. Close enough. Score!
Turns out the pear liqueur was my least favorite thing about the cake.
Probably would've preferred a sprinkle of Cointreau (which already sits in the pantry waiting to be used). But at least I have a recipe to experiment with now. I've learned so much. My first soaked cake. Sugar water and liqueur? Far from unpleasant! Nothing to complain about here. And perfect with the organic strawberries that arrived in my CSA box.
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| Heating pad helped with the rise |
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| Couldn't believe that tiny bit of batter rose this much |
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My husband said
"it looks like a big slice of pineapple"
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| Pretend you don't see that Reddi-whip... |
The recipe for this cake can be found
here and the other Tuesdays With Dorie bakers are
here.
And here's a shoe for your viewing pleasure. Have a good week!
Yeah, I could not bring myself to buy a bottle either for a few tablespoons. I ended up using Cointreau, though my first choice was Grand Marnier which I always have on hand, except the day I chose to make this. My dough did not rise much at all. A heating pad! Brilliant idea!!!
ReplyDeleteI used the same kind of spring form pan that you used...it looks like yours came out of the pan better than mine did. It does look like a giant slice of pineapple...that's funny. Beautiful with the berries.
ReplyDeleteBig slice of pineapple :-)
ReplyDeleteHow do they get that pear in there? I am going to have to chase down a bottle of that pear brandy now...
I didn't bother looking for the brandy, went with chambord and rum in each of my little cakes.
ReplyDeleteIt was an easy recipe (thank goodness).
A heating pad?! Brilliant!! I am going to have to remember that on cold winter days when I'm making bread. (thanks)
It really does look like a giant slice of pineapple.... and I love it!
ReplyDeleteI did not use alcohol because of my children and played a bit with the recipe: mine became an orange savarin.