Gingerbread Baby Cakes, a festive holiday dessert and this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe.

 

Do you love gingerbread?  I mean, really, really love gingerbread. The kind that is spicy and pungent but still maintains its softness and moisture? With a darkness in color that Dorie calls “mysterious”? Gingerbread at its most robust?  If you’re starting to drool, just a smidge, you are going to love this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe, Gingerbread Baby Cakes.

 

Despite using 1 tablespoon of ground ginger in this gingerbread mixture, the recipe also calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger.

 

The ingredients in this batter offer the clues to guide us to that delicious end result. Besides flour and dark brown sugar, the dry mixture also includes instant espresso powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground ginger, baking powder, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Yes, that’s right, black pepper.  (Note: Do not substitute instant coffee for espresso powder.)

 

A whole lotta finely chopped ginger – that’s why it’s called GINGERbread!

 

The wet ingredients include eggs and butter, of course, but also 2 1/2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger and 2 cups of unsulphured molasses.

 

I haven’t added the 2 cups of unsulphured molasses yet. Hence, the light-colored batter.

 

 

Four eggs. Last summer I mixed up a rather complicated bread recipe. Complicated,  meaning lots of ingredients. After putting the loaf pan in my oven, I found the three required eggs still nestled safely and unused in a bowl, hidden behind the flour canister on my Mise en Place tray. Since then, the egg shells always sit alone, the last to be tossed, as cracked proof that they’ve completed their job.

 

Although this makes a stiff  batter when mixed together, it pours easily into the small baby cake pans, one 10-inch round pan, or the mini-bundts that I used. I was careful to brush each inside with melted butter and then lightly dust with flour and had no problem with unmolding. However, I added an extra five minutes to the suggested 25 minutes at 350F cooking time.

 

These little darlings, sprinkled lightly with a dusting of confectionary sugar, are delicious for breakfast or a late afternoon snack. Note the crusty bottom of my mini-bundt gingerbread in the foreground. I filled my molds too high and didn’t leave enough room for the rise.

 

Although Dorie suggests dressing the gingerbread cake with whipped cream and candied lemon peel, I chose to sprinkle peppermint candy pieces over the lightly whipped cream. A festive touch for the holidays.

Thanks to Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories for hosting this week. If you’d like to try making this gingerbread yourself, link to her Blog for the recipe. To see what others did this week, go to Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia.

 

A plate filled with holiday goodness (if you love gingerbread).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Take three deep breaths.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Sit down, take a cup of tea-break.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Call a friend. Take a minute to catch up.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Yes, you have time to watch Jeopardy.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS. You’ll never have a replay of December 2012. So, enjoy.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.