Gingerbread Cake

Categories: Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, christmas

Ingredients:

• Scant 1 cup/300 g blackstrap molasses (or black treacle)
• ½ packed cup plus 1 tbsp/100 g light brown sugar
• ½ cup plus 1 tbsp/120 g granulated sugar
• 1 cup/225 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 3 large eggs
• (1½ tsp) finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 3¼ cups/400 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt
• 1¼ cups/300 ml just-boiled water
• ½ cup/100 g finely chopped crystallized ginger, steeped in boiling water

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Grease a high-sided 8-inch/20-cm square (or 9-inch/23-cm round) springform pan and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang at the sides to help you remove the cake from the pan later on. 2. Place the molasses, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, eggs and orange zest in a medium bowl and whisk together by hand, or using a handheld electric mixer, until combined. 3. Sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt together into a separate larger bowl, then pour in the molasses mixture. Stir to combine and add the just-boiled water, whisking immediately to combine. Stir in the crystallized ginger, then pour the mixture into the cake pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring the cake to a serving platter.