French Fridays with ... Moi

I'm so excited to have my computer back ... I should give her a name ... I really missed her while she was living in a box and I was busy moving.  And I'm just as excited to get back to some real cooking and baking!!  I miss all the cooking friends that I've made through French Fridays with Dorie and Baked Sundays.

This week, my time was consumed with purchasing a piece of land to build a home ... when it rains, it pours.  I'm still surrounded by boxes!!  But I can say that I did try this week's FFwD recipe ... the Mozzarella, Tomato & Strawberry Salad. One night when I was sick & tired of my hot, unorganized house, I took my kids to swim at my mom's house and she made us the salad for dinner.  I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it and I think I'd like to make it in the future for my family.

I do have another recipe to share with you that I tried last night.  I knew that Hubby was going to be an hour or so late home from work and I had gathered up all the ingredients during the week to try Bon Appetit's Blackberry Buttermilk Cake, so I took a break from my house projects and from talking to all the various people I had been talking to about the land deal to try this tempting treat! 

The results ... exactly what I expected and wanted!!  The cake has a perfect texture ... very moist and soft, a little dense ... not at all dry or crumbly.  The flavor is awesome with the blackberries and orange zest.  Hubby & I each had a slice of the cake around midnight last night with a scoop of vanilla ice cream ... perfection!  And then this morning the kids and I all had a slice for breakfast ... fruit counts as breakfast food, right?

Our rental house has brand new appliances, so last night was the first time the new oven was used.  The recipe said to bake the cake for 1 hr & 25 min.  After about an hour, my toothpick was coming out clean, so I removed the cake from the oven.  I'm guessing it still needed a little more baking time because my cake sunk a little in the middle, but then I don't know if I would've lost that texture that I loved if I had baked it longer.  Thoughts?