Thu, December 25, 2008
A Brief Respite from Financial Planning: Ginger Cake
Christians traditionally celebrate the birth of Christ by giving gifts. I’ve never been able to determine whether this custom originated because of the gifts the wise men brought to the infant Jesus or because Christ’s incarnation was a gift to the world. In either case, I’m taking a break from financial matters in this post to give a gift to my readers: one of my favorite recipes.
The Fresh Ginger Cake recipe originated with chef David Lebovitz, who for some reason no longer includes it on his web site. Happily, lists of recipe ingredients can’t be copyrighted, so I’m free to give you my take on Lebovitz’s recipe. I enjoy baking, and this recipe has two great virtues: people seem to love it, and it’s not hard to make. Don’t tell anyone that it contains black pepper until they’ve eaten it!
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and minced fine
- 1 cup mild molasses
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
Notes: The most difficult part of the recipe for me is preparing the ginger. Unless you have one of those special ceramic ginger graters, the best approach is to chop it fine with a chef’s knife. Once you combine the baking soda solution and the molasses, you’ll want to move fairly quickly. Reading through the recipe beforehand and measuring out all of your ingredients ahead of time will make it easy to keep things moving.
Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
Put the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
Mix together the molasses, sugar, and oil in a bowl big enough to eventually hold all of the ingredients in the recipe.
In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and salt.
Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, stir in the baking soda, and then whisk the hot water into the molasses mixture. Stir in the ginger. Whisk the dry ingredients into the batter; this should be done quickly, but gradually enough that the dry ingredients are well-incorporated into the batter without clumping. Add the eggs; whisk until everything is thoroughly combined.
Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for about 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top of the cake browns before the cake is done, place a piece of foil over it until it’s done.
Cool for at least 30 minutes. To loosen the cake from the pan, run a knife around it, then remove cake from pan and remove the parchment.
