{TWD}Chocolate Armagnac Cake with Chocolate Truffle Prune-Armagnac Ice Cream

Say that 10 times fast!

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie selection was the cake that got Dorie Greenspan fired from  her first professional pastry job. Not because it tastes awful–it doesn’t, it’s completely awesome–, but because it was not what the owner and customers were used to. Some people just can’t handle change well.

The original recipe used whiskey and raisins. Dorie’s recipe uses armagnac and prunes. Yes, prunes. I actually love prunes. I think they are mighty tasty, so I had no problem using them for the cake. Armagnac is similar to cognac, but from a specific region in France (Armagnac, actually) and distilled using a slightly different method.

The cake was relatively easy to make. I love setting things on fire {not in the psycho-way, of course}, so flambé-ing   the prunes with armagnac was fun. I used Valrhona Guanaja 70% for the cake. It took a little longer for the cake to bake, probably close to 40 minutes.

Once the cake was baked and cooled, I topped with a glaze made of chocolate, butter, and confectioner’s sugar. I decided to serve the cake with ice cream, of course. For those of you who know, you know I love all sorts of ice cream and am always looking for/making new flavors. Which is weird, because as a child I would only eat plain vanilla. I was a boring eater when young and I’m so glad I’m adventurous now.

Flipping through David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop, looking for an ice cream recipe that uses prunes–I happened upon Prune-Armagnac Ice Cream. So, of course, I had to make it. David’s Perfect Pairing suggestion was Dark Chocolate Truffles, so I made those too and folded them into the just churned ice cream. Because of the alcohol content of the ice cream–you don’t flambé the prunes*–the ice cream stays on the softer side.

*While you don’t flambé the prunes, I did accidently set them on fire. The recipe says heat the prunes and aramagnac until it just starts to bubble. Well, the liquid just started to bubble and I took the pan off the burner and turned it off. Then I thought, maybe I should let bubble a little more and went to place the pan back on the stove. At the same time I was lighting the burner and the flame must have got a whiff of the alcohol and caught fire. No biggie, I just placed the lid on the pan and flames went right out.

The ice cream tastes super-boozy and it is not one you would take a big spoon and eat a whole pint in one sitting while watching TV. Not that I do that, ever. 😛 I’m glad I added the dark chocolate truffles to temper the taste.You can find the recipe for the ice cream here.

The cake was a success. Because it is so rich and adult-tasting it can actually serve a lot of people. My husband and I had some–P said he liked it until I told him there were prunes in it and then he suddenly didn’t like it. I don’t know how that works. I took some to my parent’s house. They had a couple of out-of-town visitors. All four of them liked it. One actually moaned. And then, I took the rest to work. All from one little 8-inch cake.

Thank you to Lyb of And then I do the dishes {and there were a lot of dishes to do with this recipe!} for selecting the Chocolate Armagnac Cake as this week’s choice as we bake our way through Baking…From My Home to Yours. Please visit her blog for the recipe or buy the book.