Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Armagnac Cake (The Cake That Got Dorie Fired)
This Chocolate Armagnac Cake is an intense chocolate cake. And ok, this cake has whisky soaked prunes. Prunes?? But wait! It’s really good.
I like when there’s a interesting backstory to things, it’s one of the reasons Lost is my favorite show. I’ve always liked to learn the events that have led to the way things turn out. This cake has a backstory. According to Dorie, it got her fired from her very first professional job when, out of boredom, she improvised on an existing popular Chocolate Whisky Raisin cake recipe at the restaurant. I guess the problem came when she didn’t tell anyone she did it and the cake went out to unsuspecting customers. You know how people can get about prunes. 
The cake turned out to be quite good but the boss fired her anyway.
And now 250 bakers are trying their hand at this cake all these years later. Interesting.
Specifics: I used walnuts for the ground nuts due to the difference in costs compared to pecans. Armagnac is a type of brandy made in Southwest France, but I used Scotch whisky left over from the Butterscotch Pudding I recently made instead to save some more $$. I had way too much fun this past Saturday night which I was still recovering from when I made this cake. I made a mistake and smelled the whisky as I was getting ready to pour it. Getting a big whiff of that whisky really didn’t do it for me, I must say. 
I baked in two 4 inch springform pans for about 23 minutes which maybe was a tad too long.
This cake was delicious. For as much chocolate as it had in it, it wasn’t a chocolate overload for me. I served with vanilla ice cream which made it taste even better. You couldn’t even tell there was prunes in it really, they added some texture and a little bit of sweetness but it was more of an accent. Wrinkled up noses at the thought of prunes might come at the beginning, but smiles will come at the end. And that’s a great way for things to turn out, don’t you think?
Ok, what am I going to do with all these leftover prunes now?
Thanks to LyB of And then I do the dishes for selecting Chocolate Armagnac Cake – The Cake That Got Me Fired for the March 3rd edition of Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe can be found on LyB’s blog here or in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours on pages 279-281. For next week, Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles has chosen Lemon Cup Custard. See you next Tuesday!
