If a gingerbread house just seems like too much effort, perhaps this really easy Gingerbread Cake is more your speed. It looks great, tastes wonderful and smells like the Christmas holidays should smell… The recipe is from the January 2011 Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, here. But unfortunately, I think you have to sign up for their free trial to read the whole recipe…
I used Cerveza Negra instead of the called for stout, and I kept pretty much all other ingredients as written in the recipe. It was the first cake I made in a new Bundt cake pan and it turned out very well… all you have to do is look at the photos. I think I over buttered and floured the non-stick pan, resulting in the shiny skin of the cake. I wouldn’t butter and flour the next time around.
The recipe calls for some freshly grated ginger in addition to dried ginger, and I think this makes a noticeable difference in the flavor of the cake. I would have liked mine a tad more moist, but I think that’s just because we left it in the oven a couple of minutes longer than we should have…
The icing is cleverly flavored with ginger ale, but once the icing had set, it wasn’t the same white as the one in the photo in the magazine. I think it has something to do with the quality of local confectioner’s sugar. But it still made a wonderful addition to our dessert table over the holidays. It lasted a couple of days, through two dinners and it was nice on its own, with some heavy cream, strawberries and cream, etc.
You don’t even need a mixer to make this cake. Very simple to make, super nice results. Remember this cake next holiday season when you are looking for something to bake that is both festive and delicious! :)
16 Responses
Everything on the table looks delicious! What are those other cakes? Those delish looking cakes make my stomach growl!
Your cake dome is so beautiful!
Would strewing diced candied ginger on the batter be overkill?
Certain Brazilian custard type desserts that are served upside down call for buttering the molds and dusting with granulated sugar. It imparts a shiny glaze to wettish desserts and actually dislodges easily if you unmold them while still warm. Lately, I have seen this practice creep into the mainstream and specially with Bundt cakes that are acceptably served bare of glazing.
thanks for sharing MM, look so yummy and fancy… I think when you add ribbons on it it will look like a glam hat!!!… for Christmas MM i baked some brownies,food for the gods and chocolate cupcakes… the children love it esp the cupcakes since it was ( i was so trying hard )beautifully decorated with frosting and various sprinkles.. the joy of baking for people dear to you is so overwhelming esp when they complimented your goodies….Oh.. I love Christmas!!!
MM, pls. DO butter and flour the bundt pan before baking even it says non-stick…just put less if you want. The crumbs or some parts of the cake can stick inside the bundt mold, which makes the cake less presentable.
I have made this cake a few times. The stout beer makes a huge difference in how moist the cake will turn out. I also make a chocolate stout cake which is pretty easy and never fails, but only if I use stout. The table and cake looks amazing!
Yummy… Looks beautiful as well. I love gingerbread cookies and gingerbread cake is a great idea. Someday, when I have saved enough to buy an oven I will make this! Thanks for this post! By the way, I love Cooks’ Illustrated magazine. I get old issues for 20 pesos at Book sale stores. Was surprised to see a Filipino adobo recipe in the last issue I got…
Marlo, that’s where I buy my magazines too. And as for that recipe, I was so MORTIFIED by it, I started to write them a long letter, but never got around to finishing it. The writer was DEAD wrong about several things, and smug about the results which made me cringe. But to his his own adobo… :) Footloose, yes, this would benefit from candied ginger for another layer of ginger flavor. There is an apple pie on the table, and another cake I will feature next week…
I love the way this looks, MM..Butter and flour for my Bundt cakes too!! I do Rum Cakes in Bundt pans…
Looks delicious.. yum yum!
Yes natie, that’s what the pictures in this post reminds me of, macademia rum cakes! Now I got a terrible craving and of course it has to be paired with real Kona coffee or kopi luwat maybe?
MM, what are those gold foil-wrapped things on the table?
Excited to see your posts on the christmas dinners MM!
Ah kopi luwak. I have been wondering if anyone has ever developed an alternative for processing coffee bean with similar results. This visceral method involving passage through animal entrails is a bit too much even for me. I mean, culling coffee beans from cat scat, to say the least, is downright scatological isn’t it.
Hi MM, I had the same reaction as you when I read Cook’s Illustrated ‘s take on the adobo. Although I do recognize that there are several ways of making it (with or with out soy sauce, browned chicken/pork or not, the addition of ginger etc) I was still slightly aghast at their version. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones MM.
Footloose, yes thanks kopi luwak it is… but what’s this i read, there are limits to your indulgence of worldly pleasures?