gingerbread

This is one of the best cakes I've made, and I would rank it as one of the best recipes in The Vegetarian Hearth. I love gingerbread, and this is one is divine: moist, spicy, dark as night and sweet as sin. Even though there's a much molasses in this as in the molasses cookies, its heavy taste is transformed by the floral notes of all the spices. I ran out of cinnamon, so I used cardamom as a substitute, which worked out in the cake's favor.

 

The recipe is so simple to put together, and the result is so damned good, it's almost ludicrous. It took me literally 5 minutes or so to throw all of the ingredients together, and it took me about that long to eat a third of the cake as soon as it was out of the oven. Oooh, my kitchen smells so special now. I could make this cake every day.

 

Goldstein includes a recipe for a hot orange syrup to go over the cake, and I've yet to try it. I can't imagine improving on something that's already fabulously good. Obviously, I can't build a cake up this much without providing the recipe, so without any further ado...

 

Gingerbread

 

1 egg

6 tbsp light brown sugar

1/2 cup dark molasses

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I ran out of cinnamon, so I used cardamom instead, which made it taste even better)

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup boiling water

 

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch square pan.

 

Beat the egg into the brown sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in the molasses, melted butter, and spices, mixing well, then add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, and flour. Beat in the boiling water. The batter will be loose. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out dry. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

 

Serves 6-8.

Done