So you’ve all seen the lovely picture of our new house in one of the posts below…yay, shiny new house! We’ve been living here for almost two weeks now and its really become a “home” – all the furniture’s moved in, the rooms are painted, the pictures are hung, the hideous 80’s-esque sliding mirrored doors in the bathroom are gone (thank the Lord for that!). Everything is near perfect….except when it comes to photographing my food!!! In our old apartment, I had a perfect picture-taking area in my dining room; there was a window that provided exactly enough natural light – perfect for an amateur food blogger with little to no photography skills. So now I have my wonderfully large, formal dining area in my lovely new house- perfect for hosting a large dinner party….but there’s no place to take good pictures! I have plenty of windows, but by the time I get finished making dinner/baking for TWD, there’s not enough light coming through them. All I get is shadows. Boo!! Now I know I’m probably being a tad dramatic (its what I do best), and I’m sure after lots of experimenting I’ll eventually find an ideal spot for my food pics! Until then, I guess I’ll go ahead and post these fugly pictures….please don’t judge me.
Ok, I’ll get to the point of this post, which is obviously, my first TWD in my new kitchen!! YIPPEE!! So, Dimply Plum Cake, chosen by Michelle of Bake-En…this was “WOW-OHMYGOSH-BLOW-ME-AWAY GOOD“! Here’s the gist of the cake: sweet juicy plum halves are nestled down in a cake batter with brown sugar, orange zest and lots of vanilla…..sound good? Oh trust me, it is!
As I was reading through the recipe I was sort of thinking to myself, “oooh, you know, I bet the actual cake part of this won’t have a whole lot of flavor…hmmm, maybe I should add something to it…hmmm’“. I thought long and hard about adding a little something extra to the cake batter to give it some oomph; but in the end I decided not to because well, um, its Dorie, and she’s a freaking genius. Good thing I didn’t – the cake part (minus the plums) could’ve stood on its own two feet as far as I’m concerned! The orange zest and vanilla added so much flavor – and it was super moist! Oh-so-yummy!! The plums on top only added to the deliciousness – they got all soft and juicy…mmm. I loved this cake, people – LOVED it. In fact, I think I’d go so far as to say this is my favorite TWD recipe so far!
Its just too bad my pictures are so funky looking. All shadowy and weird. Promise you won’t write my blog off because of the steady stream of bad pictures that are inevitably headed your way….just accept me in spite of my hideous photo-taking skills. Don’t worry, they’ll get better – I promise!
Welcome to your new home! The photos look great and the cake looks yummy. I’m sure you’ll find a good place in the house – perhaps the bathroom?! 🙂
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Comment by food librarian — September 22, 2008 @ 9:02 PM
The photo isn’t so bad! You’ll figure out your spot in your new house before you know it. I agree with you about the cake part, it was very nice.
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Comment by Lori — September 23, 2008 @ 3:35 AM
Looks fabulous! I think it’s funny how your "bad" photos are still better than of the photos on my blog 🙂
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Comment by Sherri — September 23, 2008 @ 6:58 AM
I totally feel your natural light pain. I live in a freaking cave so I am constantly struggling with lighting issues. Do you think my realtor will give me a weird look if "lots of natural light" is on my list of house must-haves? HAHA. So glad you enjoyed the dimply cake!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
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Comment by CB — September 23, 2008 @ 8:40 AM
Your plums are HUGE!! 🙂 And the pics aren’t as bad as you made them out to be!! Looks yummy!
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Comment by hornedfroggy — September 23, 2008 @ 9:00 AM
Congrats on your new house and moving! Your plum cake looks really good! When we moved it was hard for me to get used to taking pictures in a new place, so I know how you feel (although I still think they look fine!).
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Comment by Erin — September 23, 2008 @ 9:54 AM
Whatever! Those pictures look great! Congrats on the new house! I didn’t make the cake this week, but I am kinda wishing I should have =( you made me want to leave work to make it. Looks great!
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Comment by Maci — September 23, 2008 @ 9:59 AM
Congrats on your new home! I have the same lighting problem. The only room that gets any decent light is my bedroom. So, I’m constantly dragging food in and out of there for pictures!
Your cake looks great! And, the pictures are fine! Great job!
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Comment by Susan at Sticky,Gooey,Creamy,Chewy — September 23, 2008 @ 10:26 AM
your cake looks delicious, and congrats on your new home!! your pics still look good 🙂 the first one is maybe just a bit underexposed. for the second pic, i assume the light is from a window — try covering the window with a white translucent shade for softer light.
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Comment by kim — September 23, 2008 @ 1:40 PM
Oh, I had the EXACT same experience with this cake. It is now my favorite Dorie recipe! Your photos are fine and how fab that you’re in a new house.
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Comment by Nancy (n.o.e.) — September 23, 2008 @ 4:19 PM
Maybe you should have left the mirror doors up to reflect more light onto your food subjects. 🙂
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Comment by Lindsay — September 23, 2008 @ 5:38 PM
Looks so good!!!
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Comment by Em — September 23, 2008 @ 6:42 PM
Congratulations on the new house! I think the pictures look good!
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Comment by Tracey — September 23, 2008 @ 8:09 PM
YAY for the new house. BOOO for the lack of light. I have the SAME problem in my house. 🙁
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Comment by Katie — September 24, 2008 @ 4:39 AM
Congrats on the new house being all moved in and stuff! It sounds like this cake was a hit too.
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Comment by Caitlin — September 24, 2008 @ 7:03 AM
I have the same problem in my house lack of light! Congrats on getting moved in and painted your cake looks great!
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Comment by Christine — September 24, 2008 @ 10:53 AM
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who was totally in love with this cake. I thought it was just perfect. Yours looks fabulous! And congrats on the new home; I’m jealous, despite your lack of picture-taking light. 🙂
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Comment by LyB — September 24, 2008 @ 6:20 PM
Aaaah, don’t be so hard on yourself (or your pictures). They still look good. Honestly!
Glad you enjoyed this cake so much, it does look perfect and delish.
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Comment by JacqueOH — September 25, 2008 @ 6:05 AM
Nice blog 🙂 The cake looks good too.
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Comment by Julie — September 25, 2008 @ 7:55 PM
congratulations on your new home! and what a way to celebrate that with a wonderful cake. I’m glad you love this recipe so much!
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Comment by Sihan — September 28, 2008 @ 7:11 AM
your pictures aren’t that bad, but just walk around the whole house until you find the right spot…it may not be in the dining room or kitchen, you may be surprised 🙂 i take most of my photos from my balcony, actually. anyway, your cake turned out great and i’m glad you loved it. i found it too dry 🙁
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Comment by Jaime — September 28, 2008 @ 7:21 PM
Wow-i think your pics are great. I love the fork and of course the cake looks scrumptious.
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Comment by Erin — September 30, 2008 @ 5:06 AM