3-Ginger Gingerbread: seasonal yum!

A recently attended wedding featured this delicacy as the wedding cake. Best...wedding cake...ever. I brow beat the bride in to sharing the recipe. OK, I just asked, but that's not as dramatic. It looks complicated at first glance, but it's not! Note: our local brewery was out of stout when I made this, so I substituted porter and it was just as divine. Basically, you want a full-bodied, toasty, oaty brew for the liquid, not wimpy American horse water. Support your local brewery!3-Ginger Gingerbread Cake

From “The Great Scandinavian Baking Book” by Beatrice Ojakangas

With a few modifications by the Bride (Cindy)

Bring to a boil in a medium (to large) non-reactive pan over high heat:

1 c Guinness stout
1 c mild unsulphured molasses

Remove from heat and whisk in: (it will foam up a lot… keep stirring)

1½ t baking soda

Let stand 1 hour or until cool.

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter three 8” cake pans, line bottoms with a circle of parchment paper, then butter the paper. Lightly flour the pans.

In a large bowl, whisk together:

2 c all-purpose flour
2 T ground ginger
1 ¼ t baking powder
¾ t ground cinnamon
¼ t ground cloves
¼ t freshly ground nutmeg
⅛ t ground cardamom

In another bowl, whisk:

3 large eggs
½ c sugar
½ c packed dark brown sugar

To eggs, whisk in:

¾ c vegetable oil

To eggs/oil, whisk in:

The Guinness mixture

Gradually stir the liquid into the dry.

Stir in:

1 T minced fresh ginger
¼ c minced crystallized ginger

Divide between prepared cake pans. Bake until cake pulls slightly away from the sides, and tester comes out clean – about 25 minutes. Cool about 15 minutes, then invert onto racks. Peel off paper.

Keeps at least a week (at that point we had eaten all that was left!!)

Cindy’s Glaze: brown sugar + sour cream… measure out as much sour cream as you think will be needed, then add brown sugar until it tastes right.

(A touch of vanilla goes well, and sprinkles of minced candied ginger is always good over the top, although we did not use either on the wedding cake…)