All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [27]
4. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon together.
5. Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beat at medium speed until blended, and then add the boiling water. Beat again, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat until smooth.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick or thin knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan using our plate-over-pan method and flip it onto a cake rack (see page 28). Continue cooling the cake.
8. Serve and make 8 to 10 of your friends very friendly indeed, or curl up in your La-Z-Boy and eat alone with your cat.
ATF Gingerbread
I don’t know the real name of this recipe, but it’s from my neighbor Jane Marshall. Her mom was a home economics instructor back in the ‘50s, so consequently, Jane knows a good recipe when she sees one. She jotted this down after watching Bon Appétit Catering in July 1985. While Jane’s not a big fan of gingerbread, she loves this recipe. I call it ATF (as in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) because it’s made with dark beer and crystallized ginger. Bite into one of those chunks of crystallized ginger, and you think your mouth might explode. And then you’re addicted.
Like our previous gingerbread recipe, this serves 8 to 10, depending on how many come back for seconds.
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YOU’LL NEED
An 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup molasses
1 cup dark beer (see Tip)
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of salt
½ cup crystallized ginger, broken into small chunks (see Wallet Warning)
Gingery Cream Cheese Frosting (optional, page 73)
Tip: That’s roughly two-thirds of a bottle from a six-pack. Measure out the 1 cup and drink the rest of the bottle, not the rest of the six-pack. Remember: friends don’t let friends bake drunk.
Wallet Warning: Crystallized ginger is expensive. I think ½ cup ran me something like $5 at the local Safeway. But the cake was worth the expense. Especially since I had 5 bottles of dark beer left over
1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the sides and bottom of pan with baking spray.
2. Cream the butter with the mixer on medium speed, add the brown sugar, and beat well.
3. Still at medium speed, add the egg, molasses, and dark beer all together. Beat well for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking soda, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the batter in thirds, beating well after each addition.
5. Using a spatula, fold in the crystallized ginger (remember our folding lesson with the Swedish Visiting Cake on page 62).
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick or thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan using our plate-over-pan method and flip it onto a cake rack (see page 28). Continue cooling the cake. You can also serve the cake right in the pan, if you so desire.
8. If you decided to go for the frosting, spread it over the cake. Or serve as is. Like with our other gingerbread recipe (page 69), you can make your friends friendlier, or curl up in your La-Z-Boy and eat alone with your cat.
VARIATIONS
This is where using your colleagues as guinea pigs comes in handy. One week, I decided to double the ATF Gingerbread recipe, but instead of doubling the all-purpose flour, I stuck with the original amount and added an equal amount of whole wheat. Reporter Ari Shapiro, who loves to cook and bake, weighed in:
From: Ari Shapiro
To: Melissa Gray
Subject: RE: Today’s cake
This is a really awesome cake.
I love that it’s hardly sweet,
and that gingery bite!
From: Melissa Gray
To: Ari Shapiro