SPICED FRESH GINGER CAKE

Ialways loved the addition of fresh ginger to any savoury dishes and never quite liked the combination of the spicy ginger and sugar while growing up. I think it was mostly in the head because whenever I ate a Fruit Cake, I never had a problem biting into a piece of crystallised ginger.Infact, I enjoyed it. Recently, I've been baking sweet stuff with fresh ginger and I am loving it, totally! It lends such a distinct taste to the baked goods.

This cake is really, really moist and incredibly delicious.Its quite easy to pull together too. No mixer needed! How's that for a change? These days, I find myself hunting for cake/cookie recipes which doesn't require a mixer. Less mess, less clean up means more time spent with Ian.Did you notice the bite marks on the star held by our Gingerbread  man? It's our Little fellow's contribution :-)

Speaking of Ian. I know, I always speak about him. In every single post. I cannot help it...he has just taken over my life.In a good way,of course! I think of him all the time.
When I read the reviews for this cake, I particularly noted one comment which mentioned that it was an adult cake. I was a bit hesitant to try it out after that because I wanted Ian to have a share of it too. He adores cakes and cookies. He even knows where I keep it !

After all the conflicting thoughts in my head, I went ahead and made the cake because I was eyeing this recipe for almost 4 years now. Yes, 4 years. I don't know why it took me so long.David published this recipe in 1999 and I got to make it now, in 2013!
When I tasted the cake batter,I knew Ian wouldn't mind eating it because I've made similar spiced cakes before and he literally gorged on them.

SPICED FRESH GINGER CAKE
Ingredients
4 oz fresh ginger,grated or chopped very fine
1 cup mild molasses
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs,room temperature

Method: Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a 9 1/2 inch springform tin*.
In a medium bowl, mix together molasses, sugar & oil. In another bowl, mix together the flour & spices. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add the baking soda. Take off the heat and pour the hot liquid to the molasses bowl and mix well. Add the flour little by little and blend until incorporated. Add the eggs and mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour.Cool the cake for atleast 30 mins and then turn it out to cool completely.

*I used a bundt tin and the cake was done in 40 mins.

The only drawback,if you want to call it so, would be grating the ginger for the batter.The recipe clearly states that you can chop it fine but I wasn't very sure how fine that meant.So,I pulled out my trusted microplane grater and started grating only to realise how long it actually takes to finish up.Jobin came to my rescue and all of a sudden we both realised that I should have simply used my mixie and pulsed it! Mommy brains,I say!

Ian loved this cake and found it a bit spicy when he got a speck of black pepper. Other than that he enjoyed every little bite he could manage to devour. Jobin's mom thinks this cake would be very good for the winter cold and she couldn't stop herself from enjoying another slice! I shared it with some of our friends here and they seemed to have shared the same opinion that we had...delicious!It has everything to make this Holiday season special.

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