Warm Bread and Honey Cake is lovely book with two components: interesting recipes from around the world — ones I’m sure you won’t have seen before — and very detailed background histories on each treat in the book.
Take gingerbread. This cake is not served as often now as in the 1950s and 1960s but gingerbread is a treat to be relished, for its flavor and its history. Our light and moist gingerbread cakes are quite removed from their ancestors. The original spice cakes were flat and shaped into solid, rectangular slabs. It’s believed that the Crusaders returned from the ancient Middle East with spice cakes in their saddlebacks. The original spice cakes were the perfect traveling nourishments, rather sturdy and with a long shelf — or saddlebags — life.
Over time Europeans introduced sugar instead of honey and employed buttermilk and raising agents, like baking soda, to produce a lighter cake. These versions were for baking and eating all in the same place, not for saddlebag transportation.
Distribution became widespread as spices evolved from ingredients only the wealthy could afford to ones the general public could embrace and enjoy. You still see the “economy” of spice usage in this recipe where measurements are made in ¼ teaspoon increments.
Author Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra does give you leeway when it comes to the spices. You can mix and match, changing the amounts or adding in new components — perhaps some black pepper?
This gingerbread cake version comes from The Netherlands where the Dutch pioneered the use of buttermilk. A byproduct of butter making, buttermilk was considered a secondary product and fed to animals. Gradually the benefits of buttermilk for human cuisine were discovered and refined.
I particularly enjoy the “you have to wait a day” aspect of this dessert. Gaitri wants this cake wrapped and stored for at least a day so the cake can “ripen. I have to admit, on a cold winter night I eat this right out of the oven, hot and steaming.
The original recipe appears below. I actually prefer a couple of spice changes: no cardamom, a full ½ teaspoon of cloves, a ½ teaspoon of allspice, no nutmeg, and a full ½ teaspoon of mace. I've put those changes into the recipe below in brackets. You can, of course, play with the spice mix yourself to find your own "spice spot."
Gingerbread Loaf
Yield: serves 8
Ingredients:
Spice Mixture:
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom [Brian does not use]
- ¼ teaspoon cloves [Brian doubles this to 1/2 teaspoon]
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg [Brian does not use]
- ¼ teaspoon mace [Brian doubles this to 1/2 teaspoon]
- ½ teaspoon allspice [Brian adds to the original recipe]
Cake Ingredients:
- 6 ounces, generous 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ stick butter
- ½ cup solidly packed soft dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses [Brian suggests Maguey Sweet Sap]
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ cup buttermilk
Preparation:
Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and spice mixture in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C. Line the pan with parchment paper.
Put the butter, sugar and molasses in a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then combine everything thoroughly. Let it cool slightly, then stir it into the flour mixture along with the egg and buttermilk. Stir vigorously to combine and get rid of any white streaks. This can also be done with a mixer fitted with a whisk.
When the mixture is smooth, transfer it to the pan and level the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the gingerbread comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer to a wire rack, then remove the paper and leave to cool completely.
When the cake has cooled completely, wrap it well in plastic wrap and keep it for a day before cutting it, to allow the flavors to mature. Remove from the oven, then brush the top with half of the remaining Triple Sec. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, then loosen the sides and release the clip. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and brush the bottom with the remaining Triple Sec. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Source: Warm Bread and Honey Cake by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra
Photo Information: Canon T2i, 18-55mm Macro Lens, f/4.5, 1/50 second, ISO-800