Mocha Brownie Cake - TWD: Baking with Julia

Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia - 53rd installment. The recipe is Mocha Brownie Cake.

We all needed a chocolate fix, to help combat the feeling of endless winter (why was it still in the teens today?!), and this was just the thing.  It is very rich and densely chocolatey.  Everything went according to the recipe - I did bake it closer to the shorter time listed, to keep it more moist and brownie like.  It puffed up, and then collapsed a bit after cooling:

Puffed up right out of the oven...

Collapsed as it cooled

Interior surface after cutting the layers

It has a lot of chocolate - 12 oz. in the ganache alone.  This recipe needs a lot of time, with chilling the cake, cooling the ganache until it is the right consistency, and then chilling the assembled cake.  It's a good thing the directions call for the cake to chill before you cut it - it was challenging to cut in three equal layers, but the chilling firms it up and makes that easier.  It really was like a brownie in texture. The ganache could maybe be a bit stronger in coffee flavor to make it truly mocha.

Buttermilk Scones - TWD: Baking with Julia

Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia - 52nd installment. The recipe is Buttermilk Scones.

Check out my Union Jack tea cosy...

These were delicious!  I would definitely turn to this recipe again in the future - the recipe was easy, and they turned out great.  I loved the slightly airy quality of the baked scones - they were not at all dry or dense.

I followed the recipe (more or less) and made half of the scones as triangles, and half as a filled roll.  I mixed raspberry jam with dried blueberries for the filling, and then sprinkled sliced almonds on some of the spirals before baking.    The roll was kind of difficult to roll - it was more like a fold rather than a roll (maybe I should have patted it out more thinly?).  I've made many scones over the year, and this recipe is definitely on the rich side, so more of a special occasion than an every day scone.

Before baking

Berrry scones after baking