Gingerbread

This is gingerbread. It is moist cake with ginger and molasses. Most people think of gingerbread cookies when they think of gingerbread; it is very confusing, especially because it is hard to be more descriptive than gingerbread. Gingerbread cake sounds redundant. However, after getting over the initial confusion, everyone seemed to love it. I certainly did. I tried to resist by cutting myself small pieces. I'm sure the size of the slices are much more important than the actual percentage of cake consumed (which was quite large in my case).

I think it is too bad certain dishes get restricted to such narrow seasons. Cory and I made this in December which is the month for gingerbread, like pumpkin pie in October and November, and eggnog in December. I think this delicious cake really deserves more than one month to be devoured.

We forgot to add the freshly grated ginger and had to stir it into the batter after we'd put it in the pan. It didn't seem to cause any problems though. The gingerbread was excellent! Pairing it with a cream cheese frosting a la carrot cake or with whipped cream (maybe even whiskey flavored) or just dust with powdered sugar.

Gingerbread

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses

3/4 cup honey
1 cup tightly packed dark brown 

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 1/2 tsps baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt 

2 tsps ground ginger 

2 tsps ground cinnamon 

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup milk
1 packed tablespoon grated fresh ginger root

1. Combine the butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar in a medium non-reactive saucepan and place over low heat. Stir the mixture frequently until the butter is just melted, and all of the ingredients are well blended. Remove from the heat, pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves, and set aside. When the molasses mixture feels just warm to the touch, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the milk and stir to combine. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter, and don't be overly concerned if you can't get every lump out. Stir in the grated ginger.
3.  Butter and line a 13x9x2-inch (33x23x5-cm) baking pan so the parchment hangs over by a couple inches. This will help you remove the cake from the pan later on. Pour batter into pan.
4. Bake for ~45 - 60 minutes in a 325 degree F oven. Start checking for doneness after about 45 minutes. When the top of the cake springs back when touched you're good.
5. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes, then, using the overhang of parchment (if you're using a rectangular pan), lift the cake out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting. If refrigerated, the texture becomes dense and sticky - in a good way, just let it come up to room temperature before serving.

Recipe from 101 Cookbooks

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