This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie assignment was “Tiger Cakes” so-called because of the “stripes” formed by finely chopped chocolate that is folded through the mixture at the last minute and which forms stripes through the cake.
The cake itself is a lovely mix of lots of butter (of course!), almond flour, a touch of all-purpose flour, sugar and egg white which forms a delicate cake with lots of flavour. A little like the classic financier with a chocolately twist (literally). They are cooked in mini muffin tins so they are tiny but just the right size to enjoy with a morning or afternoon coffee or after a meal when you don’t need a full dessert.
Here’s the thing though. When Dorie says to chop the chocolate very finely, that’s what she means. She doesn’t mean ignore the instructions because you are too tired from the overnight flight you just got off. She doesn’t mean grate the chocolate using a microplane because you want less mess to clean up in the kitchen and you are too tired to chop the chocolate properly…
As you can see, my “Tiger Cakes” were very non-stripey. Even though I halved the recipe to make 12 cakes, I was too lazy to chop the chocolate, opting instead to grate the chocolate finely which meant it melted into the mix instead of remaining in whole, tiny pieces to form the stripes..
I guess I will just have to make them again to get the stripes right 😉
They were DELICIOUS. Cupcake, move over, you’ve met your match here. Elegant, delicate and cute as a button – what’s not to like about these?
Get a version of Dorie Greenspan’s Tiger Cakes here on pages 198-199 of Baking Chez Moi.
Tuesdays with Dorie participants don’t publish the recipes on our blogs, so you’re encouraged to purchase Baking Chez Moi for yourself which you can do on Amazon or Amazon Canada or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us, baking our way through the book!
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These were elegant and delicious, even sans ganache like mine.
I, too, was thinking about the comparison to financiers. Despite the lack of stripey-ness, I think they turned out very well. I think I could have chopped mine perhaps a but more, but I like getting the occasional bit of a chocolate chunk.
I loved these as well. Yours look so yummie with the ganache on top. I was in such a hurry to make them that I did not read the first chapter so I did not turn mine upside down. They did tatse great what ever way they turned.
Yours look great! I think that despite the lack of stripi-ness, these are quite delicious. Unfortunately, mine stuck like crazy. I’m going to blame the uneven temperature in my oven, but think I might go invest in silicone mini-muffin pans.
Taste is all that matters, right? You don’t need much of an excuse to make these again. They were delicious and worht a repeat. I have been enjoying one each day:)
Your cakes look great! I chopped and chopped that dang chocolate till my arms were aching and I still got spots!
Funny, I’m reading this now after having eaten a few, and was furrowing my brow going “stripes?”…until I read further. 😉
Well they tasted just lovely. 🙂
I didn’t understand the stripes part of the cake either. So I created some stripes over the cakes by hand. All up for interpretations. Your ganache looks shiny, dark and yummy. Lovely bake!
Using a micro plane is a very creative idea. I wondered if I had chopped the chocolate fine enough too. Stripes or non-stripes these little cakes are delicious. Yours look beautiful and chocolaty.
I guess I really didn’t read about the stripes, but these cakes were delicious any way they turned out. Your ganache looks so nice and shiny, something I have to work on.
You made chocolate Tiger Cakes! Love them! It may have been an accident, but they look perfect and yummy all the same! Deeeeliiish!
I chopped my chocolate and still didn’t get stripes, so, who knows? No matter what they look like, they taste phenomenal. Yours look lovely.
These were delicious regardless of the chocolate pattern.
This recipe made me think of financiers too, but I thought the addition of the chocolate made these even better! Yours are so cute!