Laurie Colwin’s Gingerbread

Name: Laurie Colwin’s Gingerbread
Total time: 45 min
Yield: One 9-inch cake
Ingredients: 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, additional for buttering pan; 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar; 1/2 cup light molasses; 2 large eggs; 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger, or to taste; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice; 2 teaspoons lemon brandy or vanilla extract (see note); 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with a little plain yogurt beaten into it)

Recipe from Laurie Colwin

Adapted by The New York Times

Laurie Colwin’s Gingerbread — Eva L. Baughman for The New York Times

Total Time: 45 minutes
Rating: 5(434)
Comments: Read comments

The writer Laurie Colwin had an obsession with gingerbread, publishing a few different essays and recipes exploring its charms. In the essay that precedes this moist, cakelike rendition, from her book “Home Cooking,” she writes that it is “home food” — not fancy restaurant food, that is, but soothing cold-weather food that is simple to make, ideal for an afternoon spent holed up indoors. The essay is also a paean to Steen’s cane syrup, from Louisiana, which comes in cheerful yellow cans. Steen’s is easy to find online, if not at your local supermarket, but the recipe does not suffer if you use another brand of light molasses instead. Serve the cake plain with whipped cream, or with fruit and a dollop of crème fraîche, or glazed with lemon icing, as Ms. Colwin often did. (The New York Times) —The New York Times

Featured in: Laurie Colwin: A Confidante in the Kitchen

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch cake

4ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, additional for buttering pan
½cup light or dark brown sugar
½cup light molasses
2large eggs
1½cups all-purpose flour
½teaspoon baking soda
1½tablespoons ground ginger, or to taste
1teaspoon cinnamon
¼teaspoon ground cloves
¼teaspoon ground allspice
2teaspoons lemon brandy or vanilla extract (see note)
½cup buttermilk (or milk with a little plain yogurt beaten into it)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and set aside. Cream remaining 4 ounces butter with the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy, add molasses, then beat in eggs.
Step 2
Add flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice.
Step 3
Add lemon brandy or vanilla extract and buttermilk and turn batter into pan.
Step 4
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes (check after 20 minutes). Cool on a rack.

Tip

Lemon brandy is hard to find, but recipes for homemade lemon brandy can be found online and in cookbooks. Do not use lemon extract.

Ratings

5 out of 5

434 user ratings

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Comments

scottie7 years ago

I used the old trick of adding 1/2 Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar to 1/2 cup of milk and allowing it to stand undisturbed for 5 minutes. The milk clabbers, giving the same effect as buttermilk - a good substitute when you don't have buttermilk or yogurt.

Passion for Peaches7 years ago

Have no idea whether you will see this, but here goes. If your cake comes out raw in the middle, it is undercooked. Ovens vary, and cooking times are estimates. You need to do a toothpick test before pulling the cake out, and add extra minutes if necessary. In my oven a moist cake always needs 6-10 extra minutes of cooking.

Raw centers can be from the temperature being too high, too, so thst the outside of the cake cooks too fast. Buy an oven thermometer to test your oven's gauge.

Leah7 years ago

I used dark blackstrap molasses instead and got the traditional dark colored cake. Really delicious and easy! I might try adding some lemon zest next time.

Retro cook4 months ago

So glad I discovered this recipe which is similar to one I used to make from a long-lost recipe found in one of Amelia Simmons 19th-century cookbooks; hers was a light gingerbread, frosted with a thin layer of orange marmalade and topped with meringue. I used Lyles golden syrup (similar to Steen's) instead of light molasses and lemon brandy which I made following a simple recipe in Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management.

Leigh6 months ago

The cake pan I used was 9" X 1.5". The pan should be at least 2 inches deep. At the 20 minute baking mark the cake was still in the milkshake stage. At 40 minutes it was baked to perfection. I think this will be the gingerbread recipe I use from now on.

Martha6 months ago

Just like the gingerbread from my childhood. Three small changes: no allspice at hand. Added about 1/8 tsp cayenne for punch instead. 1/2 tsp salt Used Grandma's molasses Delicious alone, but lemon buttercream is a nice topping.

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