Classic Butter Cake

I procrastinated on making the classic French butter cake quatre-quarts for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie. This is a close cousin of the North American pound cake relying on equal parts butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. The technique is what sets the two apart though I’ve made both so many times in the past the excitement has left me long ago.

As I reluctantly scaled out my ingredients, I knew that I could not follow the recipe as written. I would be bored and baking without passion does not give me joy. I don’t bake because somebody made me do it. I bake because it makes me happy. So how can the simple quatre-quarts recipe make me happy? Try beurre noisette, brioche molds, and rumtopf.

Quatre-quarts does not depend on aerating butter with sugar. It gets its volume from baking powder and whipped eggs. Using melted butter immediately turned my thoughts to nutty aromatic beurre noisette, butter that is cooked until the milk solid just beginning to caramelize. The extra depth of flavour made these butter cake more sophisticated. Since making beurre noisette evaporates much of the water content in butter, you’ll need to start with about 9-10 tablespoons of butter to yield 8 tablespoons of beurre noisette.

Playing with shapes also made the recipe a bit more interesting to me. Loaf pan? Round cake pan? Yawn. How about my rarely-used set of brioche molds? I love the deep ridges and the sloped sides. Besides, baking the cakes into individual portions mean I can easily set them out at the office kitchen for the enjoyment of coworkers. When the 3pm coffee break comes around, it’s never easy to resist the aroma of homemade cakes looking all adorable and innocent.

The recipe generously filled eight regular size brioche molds. So generous, in fact, that the batter overflowed a bit during baking. That funny curl you see in the photo is the result of overzealous filling. I lucked out though with my non-stick tins. They slid out just fine with a bit of careful manoeuvring while the cakes were still warm. Bonus: those extra crunchy edges were extra tasty!

As for my rumtopf, I’m on a mission. You see, back when I started my preserving project, I totally expected my rumtopf to fail. Preserving fruit in copious amount of sugar and rum over an entire growing season sounded like fun but I really thought it would get mouldy. So I lowered my risk by getting four smaller jars of rumtopf going at the same time. By “smaller”, I meant each jar was still a whopping 2L (2 quarts). Well, so the rumtopfs are ready and none of them gone bad. Yes, you read me right. I am the proud owner of  8 quarts of rumtopf! I really ought to throw a party. Seriously.

I’m in desperate need to use my rumtopf in everything. Recipes calling for dark rum? Score! So even though the quatre-quarts only calls for a tablespoon of rum, I reached for my glass crocks. This is literally a drop in the bucket but every little bit helps. Oh, the drunken pieces of fruit are absolutely delicious. I thought they would be mushy but no, just pleasantly boozy! Had I not served all the cakes at work, a large ladle of the boozy frutti tutti would be a perfect match.

Surely I was not the only one who wanted to do something creative with this recipe. Check out other bloggers at French Fridays with Dorie and see what they did!

Comments

[Kathy]

I don't know where to begin...first you must be very popular at work. How nice for your coworkers that you share your passion. I find the rumtopf fascinating. I would love to try making it sometime! Maybe over the summer when fruit is plentiful. Lastly your cakes look gorgeous! Have a great weekend!

[Nana]

Those little cakes are so adorable, and I love the idea that you made
your own rumtopf, it sounds delicious. I'll bet your co-workers love
all the goodies you bring to work. Tricia and I thought this recipe
was good too. great photos.

[Cher]

You are going to be working off the rumtopf for a year :-) That's awesome.
The brioche molds were a great choice on these & I am sure these mini cakes would be just perfect with boozy fruit on top...

[Frolicking Night Owl]

You have some beautiful little cakes ... I think I'll try some different shapes & sizes next time.

[Cakelaw]

Gorgeous! I adore your innovations, and would truly love to try some rumtopf.

[Confessions of a Culinary Diva]

Rumtopf - very interesting, sounds delicious and I'll have to look into it more. Love how you used the brioche molds, they really make the cake more attractive! Imagining them with the rumtopf right now!

[Elaine]

I love the shapes of your quatre-quarts, Candy, especially the curled rims which make them look like flowers. I am so impressed about your rumtopf and I bet the addition gave them so much flavor.

[Acookingmizer.wordpress.com]

yours are the cutest yet!! love it!!

[Betsy]

Your mini-cakes are so appealing. I'll bet your co-workers loved the elegant snack.

[Erin E]

I love the brioche molds! What a great twist, I bet they were a huge hit for the coffee break!

[Mary Hirsch]

Candy, Your being such a great FFWD member and blogger caused and inspired me to include your link in my Post today about Dorie and her online cooking groups. I have so enjoyed reading your Blog and included it in my Link List at the end of my Post. Looking forward to more in the year ahead. Mary

http://www.lightsonbrightnobrakes.com/mistakes-happen-recipes-bomb-life-goes-on/

[Lola]

Beautiful cakes Candy!

[Miss Overballe]

Oh, these look delicious! If you want to play around with your rumtopf, these two recipes are absolutely delicious, and would probably work brilliantly with rumtopf as well as dark rum :)
Rum cake: http://www.missoverballe.com/?p=3615
Rum cookies: http://www.missoverballe.com/?p=1429