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best of gingercakes


MightyD

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Certainly.

If you happen to come by any, please send my share to :

The St Eustace Home for Terminally Weary Culinarians,

Rockall,

UK.

Allan Brown

"If you're a chef on a salary, there's usually a very good reason. Never, ever, work out your hourly rate."

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I love gingercakes! And now's the perfect time of year for them too. I'm in!

Here's a very popular recipe that I've been meaning to try for years!

Guiness Stout ginger cake

The proportions in this one look promising...

Ginger cake by Rick Rodgers

another recipe that looks good....

There's also one in Baking with Julia

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I love gingercakes! And now's the perfect time of year for them too. I'm in!

Here's a very popular recipe that I've been meaning to try for years!

Guiness Stout ginger cake

The proportions in this one look promising...

Ginger cake by Rick Rodgers

another recipe that looks good....

There's also one in Baking with Julia

Here's a picture of the Guinness Stout ginger cake baked in a bundt pan. I also made them in mini bundt pans. Sorry I have no photo showing the crumb. I was very pleased with the results. As I mentioned in an old post, I bought a 6-pack of Guinness; one for the cake and 5 for me. :wacko:

Ilene

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I haven't made a lot of gingercakes, but I did make the one in Baking with Julia Ling mentions and it was my favorite so far. Very rich and complex -- got good comments from those I shared it with too.

Cheryl, The Sweet Side
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yaayyy!!!

i have a recipe from regan daley that i've been meaning to try ... it promises to be dark and moist with an "almost-burnt caramel and spice flavour" - sounds yummy!

so far, i'm most intrigued by the baking with julia recipe as well as the guiness stout recipe. what do you think?

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I am definitely up for this. I tried the Baking with Julia recipe twice and am willing to try it a third time. I found Brer Rabbit mild molasses and I'm hoping that that will make a difference.

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - Carl Sagan

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I love gingercakes! And now's the perfect time of year for them too. I'm in!

Here's a very popular recipe that I've been meaning to try for years!

Guiness Stout ginger cake

The proportions in this one look promising...

Ginger cake by Rick Rodgers

another recipe that looks good....

There's also one in Baking with Julia

Here's a picture of the Guinness Stout ginger cake baked in a bundt pan. I also made them in mini bundt pans. Sorry I have no photo showing the crumb. I was very pleased with the results. As I mentioned in an old post, I bought a 6-pack of Guinness; one for the cake and 5 for me. :wacko:

The cake looks lovely, and I appreicate your good usage of that six pack. :wink: But one of the comments about that recipe mentioned the following:

"... there are notable differences between this recipe and the Gramercy Tavern gingerbread of Feb. 2000. This recipe omitted 1&1/2 teaspoons baking powder with the flour (oops!) and this recipe cuts the sugars to 1/2 cup each (a good change) so beware but make this cake!"

Did you use the baking powder in your recipe? And how much sugar?

Thanks. I'm not ready to bake the cake yet, but I might start on the Guiness tonight. :smile:

Ginger. :wub:

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i found another version of the gramercy tavern guiness stout ginger cake on-line (www.tif.ca/recipes) which does have the 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. but it also has only 1/2 TSP baking soda as opposed to the 1/2 TBSP baking soda in the epicurious site. IMO, i think that even with the increased baking soda in the epicurious site, the cake would have a lighter texture with baking powder.

i'm eager to test this recipe as i've heard so many things about it - i recommend going with the 1/2 TSP baking soda and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. what do you think?

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i found another version of the gramercy tavern guiness stout ginger cake on-line (www.tif.ca/recipes) which does have the 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.  but it also has only 1/2 TSP baking soda as opposed to the 1/2 TBSP baking soda in the epicurious site.  IMO, i think that even with the increased baking soda in the epicurious site, the cake would have a lighter texture with baking powder. 

There are actually two different cakes from Gramercy Tavern on Epicurious. There's a Guinness Stout Ginger Cake, and there is a Gingerbread. The one with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda is the Gingerbread (for which one may use either oatmeal or Guinness Stout, and which calls for a 10-12 cup bundt pan).

The Guinness Stout Ginger Cake recipe is the one that calls for 1/2 tablespoon baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, requires less sugar, specifies Guinness Stout *only*, and adds some grated ginger to the recipe (the amount of spices varies just a bit, as well). This recipe uses a smaller pan--9x5 loaf or 6-cup bundt.

It seems to me that a Ginger Cake should be lighter than a Gingerbread (just going by the names), and that's why there's more leavening in the cake recipe. But they are two different recipes, so whichever you make depends on whether you want a gingerbread or a ginger cake.

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I was hired to do some Christmas baking for a co-worker (my first paid cooking gig!) just last month, and one of the things she requested was gingercake.

So, I went on a quest for the perfect gingercake recipe. Of all the recipes I tried - several from Epicurious.com, FoodNetwork.com and a few from various cookbooks - the Gramercy Tavern one and the Baking Illustrated one were the favorites of all testers.

The Gramercy Tavern recipe was quite good; very moist with a stronger bite - a little too strong of an aftertaste for me, and kind of sticky, I thought. The Baking Ilustrated one is softer with, in my opinion, the perfect texture and no aftertaste, but I thought the ginger flavor wasn't quite strong enough.

So, I played with them a little - added a bit of Guinness to the Baking Illustrated recipe and used a mixture of ground ginger and grated crystalized ginger. That came out pretty well and is what I used for my customer. For my own preferences, though, I think I would leave the beer out, but the extra ginger in.

Both recipes, however, are very good and received high marks from everyone who tasted it for me!

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body...but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
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The Gramercy Tavern recipe was quite good; very moist with a stronger bite - a little too strong of an aftertaste for me, and kind of sticky, I thought. 

I made the Gramercy Tavern recipe, as well, and I thought it was quite bitter the first day. It definitely mellowed with age, and then I loved it after a day or two.

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But one of the comments about that recipe mentioned the following:

"... there are notable differences between this recipe and the Gramercy Tavern gingerbread of Feb. 2000. This recipe omitted 1&1/2 teaspoons baking powder with the flour (oops!) and this recipe cuts the sugars to 1/2 cup each (a good change) so beware but make this cake!"

Did you use the baking powder in your recipe? And how much sugar?

Thanks. I'm not ready to bake the cake yet, but I might start on the Guiness tonight.  :smile:

Ginger.  :wub:

I'll double check the recipe when I get home tonight and report back.

Ilene

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so far, the following ginger cake recipes have generated the most responses:

1) Baking with Julia - the book says that it is a gingerbread though

2) Gramercy Tavern Guinness Stout Ginger Cake

3) Baking Illustrated - recipe also calls this a gingerbread

any others you'd be willing to test?

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Here's a site with a bunch of gingerbread recipes. (To clarify--are we looking for a gingerbread or gingercake? Or does it matter to anyone? I love both...)

I looked at all the recipes and their proportions, and the two recipes that I think would appeal to me most, in finished form, are the Double Ginger gingerbread and the Gingerbread cake recipes. Both look like they would be moist, and include a variety of spices. Also, they are not the sweetest of the recipes on the site. The Double Ginger gingerbread contains buttermilk, which I like in a cake recipe.

Here's a Williams-Sonoma recipe that also looks good...it's another recipe I've been meaning to try! Ginger cake with warm caramel sauce

In Vancouver, Chef Neil at The Hamilton Street Grill does a comforting dessert called "Gingerbread pudding". Basically, you bake a simple gingerbread cake, cube it and mix it with a eggy base (like you would for bread pudding), rebake it, then top it with caramel sauce. It's quite the legendary dessert here in Vancouver! Here's his recipe: Gingerbread pudding

The cake is very basic, but works well in this application. If I were to riff on the gingerbread pudding theme, I'd probably use one of the recipes I listed above (with more ingredients and complexity in taste), and decrease the amount of sugar in the caramel recipe. :smile: One thing that I can't do at home, though, is the amazing pumpkin ice-cream and ginger ice-cream he serves with the gingerbread pudding.... :wub:

Edited by Ling (log)
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David Lebovitz? You around?

I make your recipe from ROOM FOR DESSERT all the time-Awesome man, awesome. These guys are making me think about subbing the water with guiness.

I'll let you know how it comes out

"Chocolate has no calories....

Chocolate is food for the soul, The soul has no weight, therefore no calories" so said a customer, a lovely southern woman, after consuming chocolate indulgence

SWEET KARMA DESSERTS

www.sweetkarmadesserts.com

550 East Meadow Ave. East meadow, NY 11554

516-794-4478

Brian Fishman

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It's my ONE day off today, which is why I'm taking over this thread so much... :laugh:

I guess I'm being an eager beaver, but I baked this recipe: Gingerbread cake

The lighting is really poor and I realize the whole brown cake/brown chair in the background/brown table/brown placemat thing is kind of...uhm...brown. But it was the only pic I took before my camera died...must buy batteries!

The cake is very soft with a tender, rather delicate crumb (this is straight out of the oven...we'll see how it is tomorrow). It's not dry at all. The recipe notes that this cake was traditionally served with butter and eaten at dinner (hence it's relative lack of sweetness, I imagine.) The cake itself is good, but I think it would definitely benefit from some caramel sauce! The only change I made was a moderate increase in spices (an extra tsp. of both the cinnamon and ginger, and .5 tsp increase in nutmeg, which I found resulted in a tastier batter.)

gingerbread.jpg

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This recipe for Ginger Spice Cake is from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen cook book

Ginger Spice Cake

Serves 8

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/s tsp. all spice

1 egg

1/2 c. molasses

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the pan bottom and place it inside; then spray the paper. Set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients (not the sugar) into a large bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg, molasses, sugar and melted butter until thick. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat for 1 minute after each addition to incorporate the ingredents and strengthen the cake's structure. Mix until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth down the top of the batter until even. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into a middle of the cake comes out clean.

This cake is rad when served with this warm cranberry sauce

Warm Cranberries

2c. fresh cranberries

1 c. dried cranberries

2 c. water

2 c. brown sugar, packed

1 tsp. all spice

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 c. whipped cream, for garnish

Combine all ingredents in a large pot. Bring to a boil over meduim heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan, then slice it in wedges. Serve with the cranberries and whipper cream.

: 0 )

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But one of the comments about that recipe mentioned the following:

"... there are notable differences between this recipe and the Gramercy Tavern gingerbread of Feb. 2000. This recipe omitted 1&1/2 teaspoons baking powder with the flour (oops!) and this recipe cuts the sugars to 1/2 cup each (a good change) so beware but make this cake!"

Did you use the baking powder in your recipe? And how much sugar?

Thanks. I'm not ready to bake the cake yet, but I might start on the Guiness tonight.  :smile:

Ginger.  :wub:

I'll double check the recipe when I get home tonight and report back.

I couldn't find my recipe so I checked the epicurious site again and saw the two versions. I am sure I used the Gramercy Tavern gingerbread recipe, and hope I didn't cause any confusion :unsure:. It calls for 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup packed brown sugar. It is for a 10-12 cup bundt pan while the other version is for a 6 cup bundt. Also, 94% of epicurious reviewers would make this again compared to 86% for the other.

Ilene

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Here's the one I love with a few modifications because I felt it didn't have enough flour or heat.

Traditional British Gingerbread

2 cups of self-rising flour

2 tablespoons of ground ginger

1 Tablespoon minced crystal ginger

1 tablespoon ground allspice

1\2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1\2 tsp salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1\2 unsalted butter

1\2 packed brown sugar

3 eggs

2\3 cup black treacle

also I've tried using molasses which I found a bit too strong....any thoughts?

Life! what's life!? Just natures way of keeping meat fresh - Dr. who

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i pulled up the Fresh Ginger Cake off epicurious that Ling posted and am puzzled by something:

4oz fresh ginger, grated

1 cup molasses

1 cup sugar

1 cup oil

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp pepper

1 cup boiling water

2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

mix molasses, sugar, and oil - set aside. mix flour, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper - set aside.

and here's the part i don't understand ....

the recipe then calls for adding the baking soda to the boiling water, then add this mixture to the molasses mixture above. won't this just kill the leavening?? i've compared this recipe to so many others and i can't find any other recipes that even remotely resemble something like this!

can anyone shed any light on this?

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