Gingerbread Cake With Lemon Icing

Recipe Ingredients

		For The Gingerbread
1/2 cup	99g / 3.5oz	Plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup	80g / 2.8oz	Plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup	246g / 8.7oz	Plus 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup	177ml	Plus 1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons	10ml	Fresh ginger - finely grated
1 teaspoon	5ml	Ground cinnamon
1 cup	237ml	Plus 2 tablespoons milk
2 cups	220g / 7.8oz	Eggs - beaten to mix (large)
1 teaspoon	5ml	Baking soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm water
2 cups	125g / 4.4oz	All-purpose flour

Recipe Instructions

For the icing: 1 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted 1 tablespoon warm water

You will need a roasting pan, approximately 12 x 8 x 2 inches, greased and lined with foil or parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a saucepan, melt the butter along with the sugar, syrup, molasses, ginger, and cinnamon. Off the heat, add the milk, eggs, and baking soda in its water.

Measure the flour out into a bowl and pour in the liquid ingredients, beating until very well mixed (it will be a very liquid batter). Pour it into the pan and bake for 3/4 - 1 hour until risen and firm. Be careful not to overcook it, as it is nicer a little stickier, and anyway it will carry on cooking as it cools.

And when it is cool, get on with the icing. Whisk the lemon juice into the confectioners' sugar first, then gradually add the water. You want a good, thick icing, so go cautiously and be prepared not to add all the water. Spread over the cooled gingerbread with a palette knife, and leave to set before cutting.

Makes 20 squares.

Comments: Having run the cake table at my daughter's school last year, I can say that there are two types of optimum bake sale fare: small, individual pieces that look cute and fetch high unit-prices and sheet cakes that can be made without effort or dexterity and sliced up easily. This recipe fits the latter category and has the added virtue of appealing to parents and grandparents who feel that something from the sale should be gratifyingly old-fashioned. The fresh ginger is a modern touch, admittedly, but I always keep some in the fridge and wanted to try it in a less contemporary, pan-Asian way one day (it worked.) The lemon icing may not be conventional either, but there is another starkly practical reason for it: brown things if they're not gooily chocolate don't sell so well; and the lemon spruceness of the topping is perfect with the musky sweetness beneath it.

Source:
Gourmet

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