Deb from Smitten Kitchen recently recommended the cake that Michelle chose for TWD this week, and since I’m a Smitten Kitchen junkie, I’d been wanting to make it since then. I didn’t even realize it was Dorie Greenspan’s recipe at first, so I was excited when I saw that it was the assigned recipe. Plus, I just happened to have all of the ingredients the day it was chosen for TWD, including a bunch of plums. That never happens.
I baked the recipe in a muffin pan because muffins are more convenient to store in the freezer and grab before going to work. And I overfilled the muffin cups because I have an annoying lazy tendency. I put what seemed like an appropriate amount of batter in each cup, but I could tell after I pushed the first plum into the batter that the cups were overfilled. How hard would it have been, really, to re-portion the dough into extra muffin cups, especially considering that I only used 10 sections of the 12-cup muffin pan, and I had extra plums. And then I would have avoided making a mess of some of the muffins/cupcakes.
Not that I minded those broken bits. They gave me a great excuse to snack on cake while I finished making breakfast. I thought the cake was really good. I used lemon zest and cinnamon, but I think orange zest would be a lot better. I’m still fighting fall, but this was a good compromise between late summer and fall flavors.
Michelle has posted the recipe.
Those are so freaking adorable!! I love your dimply plum cupcakes! Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
those are just great! from the top they remind me of thumbprint cookies. great adaptation.
those look so great! i’m glad you tried them in the muffin tins! so cute!
They look adorable! Well done!
Oh my. I think they’re beautiful over filled like that. And broken pieces do make the greatest snacks.
Whoa, are those giant muffin tins? Because we rarely get plums that cute here! I think you have come up with the perfect take-away treat! 🙂
Adorable! They look great!
I love the muffin cup idea! They look so cute. This would be a great idea to scale down the recipe as well- I’ll have to remember that next time we have a recipe like this!
Ahhhhh… Great minds think alike! I too made little cakes, I thought many would have thought of it… but no, apparently only a few.
Those are beautiful country-ish pictures… goes so well with the type of cake!
Splendid job you did!
So cute! I love the idea of the individual servings!
plums are an underrated fruit – it is nice to see them show up in a new way.
Great idea to make muffins! They look so cute!
they are darling! next time i will do like you!
Your little cakes are beyond cute! I also used lemon zest and cinnamon which worked well with my blueberries.
Super Duper cute! They are adorable and look so yummy. I just love all that you make.
I was wondering if it would work in a muffin pan, now I know. They look delicious!
I love that the cake rose up and over the edges, even if it’s a sign you overfill (I always do it too). Beautiful.
I think it’s great that you made them in a muffin pan. Definitely easy for freezing. Great pictures! Everything looks delicious.
Yum! I love looking at everyone’s different versions of these. And love, love, love anything baked with plums.
Those little cakes look so cute (and delicious)! Don’t you love it when you have all the ingredients on hand!
Oh my gosh–these are just too cute! I just joined TWD and have been sticking to her instructions exactly so far, but your variations are so inspiring. Love your photos, too!
What a great idea! Now I want to make the cake again!
I love the smaller size! Looks wonderful 🙂
i love snacking on those overfilled cake regions as well. haha. Great thinking those. THose mini versions look marvellous!