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).
You drew me in with your language. I could smell the gingerbread and reimagine its heavenly texture that gives in just the right way with a little bit of a fight but not too much.
I am gonna bake this and I don’t even bank
Miss you. also love the Forgotten Eggs story….very metaphorical too.
ciao and kisses, Donna
Oh, what eautiful gingerbread bundt cakes! I love the way it looks with the whipped cream and peppermint, it’s such a lovely contrast. I still can’t get over how dark and rich and spicy these were. They do make a pretty good breakfast, and they go nicely with coffee. Lovely work, Mary!
LOVE how you topped your mini Bundts, Mary! Gorgeous! 🙂
Oh man (gingerbread man in fact!), those look sooo good, (and Donna is right, your wonderful and gingery language had me drooling.) They are even bundts! The only type of cake I can make. I think I will have to give this recipe a holiday try.
What a delightful post! Peppermint sounds perfect. I can tell you have some holiday spirit. Didn’t you love the smells coming from your kitchen while this gingerbread baked? We all enjoyed this recipe and can’t wait to bake it again.
Love your mini bundt cakes. They looks wonderful with the cream and candies on top. Really great.
We used the same mini-Bundt pans, Mary! But I bet you didn’t use blackstrap molasses…what was I thinking????? I love the idea of combining these with peppermint whipped cream…so festive!!!
PS…Mixed WAS great…so fun to hang out with other food bloggers (the nicest people around :))
CHER –
Awwww – I like the baby bundts with the candy cane whipped cream 🙂
The candy canes look so festive! I’m glad you liked this. I did too but my husband thought they were awful:)
Mary, what a very pretty presentation – I love the mini Bundt pans, of course, and I love the festive presentation. You made these Gingerbread Mini Cakes look like the perfect dessert for the Holidays! And the red and golden color of your plates make it all look even more wonderful!
What a beautifully written post. Lovely photography.
great advice at the end of your post! your dressed bundts are cute.
Mary, these look like the perfect way to end a festive holiday dinner. I’ve never made gingerbread with fresh ginger, bet it’s quite yummy!
Great photos. L O V E the last one especially – it just oozes deliciousness!
YUM! Now I just have to find someone to make it for me! Baking is not my thing. Requires reading, measuring, order, patience…….
Author: Unknown
I didn’t have potatoes,
so I substituted rice.
Didn’t have paprika,
so I used another spice.
I didn’t have tomato sauce,
so I used tomato paste.
A whole can not a half can –
I don’t believe in waste.
My friend gave me the recipe –
she said you couldn’t beat it.
There must be something wrong with her,
I couldn’t even eat it.
I seriously needed a Dose-of-Dale this week and you didn’t disappoint. Knowing you,the Author Unknown is Y-O-U. Missing you and Mindy but returning to Aspen in April and very excited about that.
Funny you should mention a late afternoon snack, Mary! I happen to be eating a piece of my gingerbread while I’m reading your post!! I really enjoyed this cake. I just love the grownup taste of this gingerbread!! Your little bundts look so pretty especially the one with the whipped cream and peppermint pieces!! Simply beautiful!!
Love your last paragraph…so true! Life is too short not to enjoy!!
Mary…I’m stealing the poem that Dale posted above…I’m posting it on my FB page! It is so true!
Dale would be honored, Kathy.
Your photos are wonderful, Mary, and your gingerbread is beautiful with the peppermint whipped cream.