Sometimes baked goods in the spiced genre can
taste a bit like a candle shop, or a stale corner of the pantry.
No wonder they’re less popular than chocolate and fruit and custard desserts: They feel less alive. All spice cake needs is new blood: A big dose of fresh ginger will give you infinitely more brightness and fire than a dormant jar of the ground kind.
No wonder they’re less popular than chocolate and fruit and custard desserts: They feel less alive. All spice cake needs is new blood: A big dose of fresh ginger will give you infinitely more brightness and fire than a dormant jar of the ground kind.
Cookbook author Sylvia Thompson’s is the simplest
and best of the fresh ginger cakes I’ve tried. She calls for fresh ginger the
size of an egg, grated medium fine. There’s no need to even peel it. Most of
ginger’s unsavory fibrous bits, inside and out, break down under the grater and
fade into the cake. She also kindly gives guidelines for baking in virtually any
cake pan you want, and for serving warm or cool.
Serves at least 8
QUATRE ÉPICES
1 tablespoon ground white
pepper
¼ teaspoon ground
cloves
1 teaspoon ground
ginger
1 teaspoon grated
nutmeg
½ cup (115g) unsalted
butter, plus a little softened for the pan
½ cup (120ml) cool
water
½ cup (110g) firmly packed light
brown sugar
¼ cup (60ml) light
molasses
¼ cup (60ml) dark corn
syrup
1 extra-large egg
Fresh ginger the size of an egg,
grated medium-fine
1½ cups (190g) all-purpose flour,
plus a little more for the pan
1 teaspoon baking
soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Sifted confectioners’ sugar or sweet potato
caramel for the top
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Choose any baking
dish with a 6- to 8-cup (1.4L to 1.9L) capacity (Thompson uses an 8-inch/20cm
square). Brush with butter and dust with flour.
2 To make the quatre épices, stir together all spices. The spice
blend will keep in an airtight container for 6 months.
3 Melt the butter in the water either in a largish
saucepan over medium heat or in a glass mixing bowl in the microwave. Do not let
the water boil (and thus evaporate).
4 To the butter and water, whisk in the brown sugar,
molasses, and corn syrup, and then the egg. Whisk in the ginger, discarding any
long strings the whisk brings up. Add the flour, baking soda, 1 teaspoon of the
quatre épices, and salt. Whisk a minute or two until
the lumps dissolve. Pour into the pan. Rap gently on the counter to knock out
any air bubbles.
5 Bake until a fine skewer thrust in the center comes
out clean and the top, when tapped, springs back, about 35 minutes for a square
(or ring or round), less for a shallower rectangle, more for a deeper loaf.
Gently turn out onto a doily-lined dish to serve warm or onto a rack to serve
cool. Finish with sifted confectioners’ sugar or serve with sweet potato caramel or
chocolate frosting, as food writer Laurie Colwin did.
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