Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock's Dark Molasses Gingerbread

Sunday morning, pad quietly into the kitchen. Kettle on, cupboards open. Pull out the box of cake flour, just the right amount still in the bag, the bottle of inky molasses, soda, baking powder. Two eggs from the fridge, cold and smooth in my hands; spices from the freezer, their bottles frosting immediately in the warm kitchen.

Baking first thing in the morning, before the first cup of tea, before opening the door to get the paper, before even being entirely awake, is one of life's small pleasures. One of my life's small pleasures. I love the silent, solitary work in the kitchen, the concentration, the satisfaction at seeing a few simple ingredients come together under my hands and blossom into something else entirely.

It so happens that the best recipes for this kind of early morning venture are plain and homey ones. They have to be. I'm not interested in four-layer cakes at 9:00 am on a Sunday, or in rolled fondant, or pastry cream. What I revel in making are recipes that dirty just one bowl, that surprise you with their ease, that come laden with history, the knowledge that they've been made a hundred thousand times before, in thousands of kitchens, by thousands of slightly sleepy home cooks who don't have the luxury to worry about whether or not the cake will rise or turn out as it should.

This recipe seems to have been made for this purpose - you whisk together the dry ingredients: cake flour and leaveners for lightness and a mix of cloves, ginger and cinnamon for warmth and flavor. Then you melt a stick of butter in boiling water and whisk that, along with a couple eggs, into the flour. That is it. Quite literally. What results is a dark and moodily cracked cake that, if left to its own devices for a day, gets moister and more complex, and if eaten while still warm, is a very good snacking cake, best if served with whipped cream to round out the hard molasses edge.

The cake is from The Gift of Southern Cooking by the late, great Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, which doesn't have the same bewitching lilt as Miss Lewis's The Taste of Country Cooking, but is packed with information and interesting recipes from a region that I used to know very little about culinarily. The baking recipes, in particular, are just the kinds of things I like to think about making early on a weekend morning, while the neighborhood still sleeps and the day stretches languidly, full of promise, ahead of me.

For a short film on Edna Lewis, go over to Gourmet's website, right here. The first photo you see of her, a black-and-white one with her in profile at 0:21, kills me.

Dark Molasses Gingerbread
Serves 8

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, more for pan
2 cups cake flour, more for pan
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups dark molasses
Freshly whipped cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch round baking pan. Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Blend in spices and salt with a wire whisk.

2. In a small pan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Melt 1/2 cup butter in it, then whisk water into flour mixture. Beat eggs and add to mixture, along with molasses. Whisk until well blended. Pour into pan.

3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer plunged into center comes out with no trace of raw batter. Interior will be moist. Serve warm with freshly whipped cream.

Note: This cake is also delicious the day after it is baked. The spices meld and the texture gets more like a steamed pudding.

Comments

[Adrienne]

You're the second food blogger I read to mention that video. I wish I were at home and not at work so I could watch it without fear of being caught! The cake sounds perfect for the rainy April weekends forecasted here, even if ginger bread has a holiday reputation.

[Kasey]

I love gingerbread--winter or spring. The aroma is just unbeatable.

[sara coyne]

I know that from where I sit, in my bath robe at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the palest morning late slanting in, this cake seems to want to belong to me. I am wishing I had made this yesterday morning... maybe next Sunday.

[Phoo-D]

I also love that time of the morning and nothing is better than a simple cake to fill the kitchen with warm comforting smells and pull Mr. B out of bed. I can't wait to try this one!

[maggie (p&c)]

So, so perfect. Thank you for this.

[Laura]

Oh that looks so luxurious! My dad was the king of the early morning (coffee) cake on Sundays. A tradition he seems to have passed on to me. Can't wait to give this a try!

[la ninja]

I'm home with the flu and feeling rather "bleh" but your prose just made me feel a tad better. :)
I want to bake now but I reckon I'm still pretty drowsy from the cough syrup so no handling heavy machinery or ovens for me just yet...

Ta for this,
la ninja

[michaela]

i so agree with your comments. nothing like the peace of the kitchen in the early morning, putting together something familiar and simple. i love that feeling.

[Katya]

oh morning baking. saturday mornings I slip out of bed and spend the next few hours blissfully alone in the kitchen cleaning, baking, listening to foodie podcasts (geek!), and preparing the kitchen for the coming week. I have a huge striped monstrosity of a nightgown with a cowl neck stolen from my grandmother that I tend to wear, looking very 'ugly stick' as my sister would insist. www.breadbabies.blogspot.com

[cate]

luisa! this is one of my very favorite recipes of all time. i especially like it with fresh whipped cream with a little vanilla and bourbon thrown in. the texture is perfect, and the flavor is just fantastic. i'm so glad you posted this; i want everyone to know how good it is.

[Chiot's run]

Oh, I so love gingerbread. I'll certainly be making this later today. I can't wait till I have some rhubarb of my own next year.

[Victoria]

This looks perfect, just perfect. It's my kind of cake - one layer, rather plain, and especially delicious topped with lightly whipped cream. (You could tell me if "mit schlag" is correct.)

I will try this next weekend.

[Kim]

Spices in the freezer. Smart! I keep whole wheat flour in the freezer but I never thought about spices.

[Sara]

Your weekend baking sounds poetic...Yours is what I wish mine would be. Mine is usually punctuated by the cat begging for breakfast and me knocking over dishes and waking up the household.

[shannalee]

Love this post - so beautiful. I am also impressed by the spices in the freezer... never would have thought of it, but it makes sense!

PS - Glad to see you on Twitter!

[Ulla]

Gorgeous photos!

[radish]

I finally printed the recipe this morning and was determined to make this tonight - it really looks, feels so comforting, and absolutely perfect for a Sunday morning! I wish I had stayed in baking on a Sunday instead of meeting with my running group :) for a 9 mile run.

[Penelope]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I read the post about 20 minutes ago--the cake is in the oven as I write. 40 minutes until expected bliss.

[unconfidentialcook.com]

That relationship between Edna and her young man just kills me....I bet this is delicious, especially early Sunday morning.

[JB]

I just made this gingerbread recently, and everyone in my family (including the baby) went crazy for it. Lightly whipped cream was key. I also love Dorie Greenspan's chocolate gingerbread, but this is a great alternative.

[Jess]

Luisa, thank you for your beautiful prose on early morning baking. That slightly sleepy, yet suddenly awake feeling of pulling together a cake before the day truly begins is magical.

[Luisa]

Adrienne - your job needs to understand the importance of mini-documentaries about enigmatically beautiful chefs/cooks from the South! :)

Katya - "ugly stick" made me giggle. So, what podcasts about food do you listen to?

Cate - bourbon AND vanilla in the cream! Genius.

Victoria - mit Schlag is indeed correct, that's how the Austrians say it.

Kim - I can't remember who told me about this, but I've been doing this for years. Apparently it keeps them fresher for far longer.

Shannalee - Twitter is freaking me out a little, I'm not going to lie. But I'm there! We'll see how long I last. :)

Ulla - thanks!

JB - chocolate and gingerbread truly is a match made in heaven.

[Anna]

Sometimes I'm not sure if I love gingerbread for itself or as a vehicle for whipped cream, but this looks pretty irresistible. Thanks for posting the link to the documentary, it was beautiful and enlightening.

[Jenni]

I'm so glad I wandered by--you write beautifully. So evocative of sleepy anticipation and quiet kitchens. Wonderful cake--I bet it would be nice as the ending to a meal with a spoonful of lemon curd:)

[Mama JJ]

I agree that baking in the morning is rather sacred, but I must admit the hour of 9 am made me start---I usually have to get crackin' by 6, or maybe even before, if I want any alone baking time---the kids straggle downstairs pretty early most mornings. By 9 we have breakfasted, done chores, and started in on our studies. I long for the day when I can leisurely bake, sip coffee, and listen to the radio, all on my own time frame.

[MsGourmet]

Nothing like waking up the house with the smell of something decadently cosy :)

[Karen]

I love weekend morning baking, too. The peace and quiet are so wonderful and comforting...almost enough to turn me in to a morning person!

[Emski]

Must be my lucky day - seeing this recipe in the NYT online, then by chance finding your blog with pictures that confirm my initial thought that this gingerbread sounded divine! Will be running home to makes some... Thank you!

[Katie]

This looks amazing. I am going to go home and make this tonight. I love evening baking; it's so relaxing after a long day at work.

I just stumbled onto your blog for the first time, and I'm so glad I did!

[Emily]

Oh my, this looks so delicious. Dorie Greenspan has a kickass chocolate and ginger cake as well in her "Baking: From My Home to Yours"

Why isn't eating ginger and chocolate cake a requirement for life? Seriously.

[A Mouse Bouche]

This sounds exactly like what I want to eat right now. And I totally agree--morning is my favorite time to be in the kitchen, and I dare say the ONLY time when I am inspired to do the dishes. There's something so comforting about that. And I imagine, a certain other person who lives with me would be more than thrilled to wake up to the smell of cake...

[Mary]

It is waiting on the cooling rack right now knowing I can't touch it until tomorow night at a friend's house. But I did have to tidy a crumbly curve or two...

In your post, you mentioned clove. Did you add some ad hoc?

How lovely to smell this as snow continues to fall. And fall.

[laura]

Oh gingerbread, swoooon!

[Luisa]

Anna - you're right, it does go awfully well with whipped cream...

Jenni - thank you! Lemon curd would be lovely here: that creamy, acidic bite.

Katie - welcome! Hope you stick around :)

Emily - it can be! You can make it happen!

Mary - eeeep! The original recipe in the cookbook calls for cloves. But I didn't double-check the recipe from the Times. Thanks for catching that! How odd that the Times omitted the cloves.

[Rose-Anne]

I'm getting hooked, Luisa...your prose are slightly addictive :-)

I too love those quiet cooking moments. For me, sometimes they happen in the morning, but late-night kitchen time is pretty lovely too. Really, any kitchen time is lovely!

[Mandy Blake]

Wow, thank you for the mouth watering words! I, too find my kitchen time to be the most blissful, almost as good as a hot bath.

I'm ready to bake something spicy now...

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[L*Joy]

Thank you for sharing the video of Edna Lewis. I just savored every second.

[Basil]

The joy of baking alone in the morning is incredible. What makes it phenomenal is when the sleepy eyed kids wander downstairs to gather their items for school, they stop, sniff, and say hey that smells like gingerbread. I secretly hope the smells of home stay with them throughout the day.

[Lisa-Marie]

The only ingredient for this I don't have is the treacle (molasses). I am so tempted to just go buy some!

It looks wonderful!

I am having a cooking/baking day today, this may be the way to round my cooking off!

[noble pig]

I would love to wake up with this on Sunday! Beautiful.

[CookingSchoolConfidential.com]

I agree. There is something about baking gingerbread. Sure, the taste is incredible, but it is the taste that is what blows me away.

In the next term at school (I'm a culinary school student), we're doing some baking. I can hardly wait.

Cheers.

[Jennifer]

I baked this cake with my daycare children yesterday. It was a cold, rainy/snowy day and the smell of the gingerbread baking in the oven cheered us up immensely. We spoiled our lunch by eating great slices of it with fairy tea.

[Chilli]

This looks like a wonderful recipe to try...I've never used molasses before....I'm guessing it would taste caramelly??...I wonder if melted jaggery would work as a substitute..I do have some of that. What do you think??

[Jodye]

Ooh, gingerbread, my favorite. This looks divine!

[Vivian]

Question - should I use a liquid measuring cup for the molasses? I'm a new baker, so I wasn't quite sure. (I've already tried making this recipe, and I only added 1 cup using the liquid measuring cup. In any case, the gingerbread came out beautifully and had a nice amount of sweetness.)

Additionally, do other liquidy/pulpy ingredients such as pumpkin puree, applesauce, yougurt, jam, etc. count as liquid ingredients?

Thanks! I love your blog btw :)

[dancing kitchen]

I ran across a New York Times article about the Great Depression...and somehow it seemed to fit this gingerbread recipe.
"My mother would put food out there if she had an extra helping, then she would pull the blinds in the kitchen, because she didn’t want my brother and I to be watching. We discovered later there was a mark in the alley that indicated there was something on the back porch.

My mother was a big-hearted woman. If she had a dessert, she always put a dessert out there. Sometimes they’d leave little notes: ‘Thank you, Ma’am.’

One woman came along — I was surprised, it was usually men — she said, ‘Your gingerbread was lovely.’ She had some sort of piece of paper, it looked like a piece of a bag, just a few words, she said, ‘I always liked to bake gingerbread and your gingerbread was lovely.’" -Anna Jane Nicholas
(www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/garden/02depression.html)
I think your gingerbread would be lovely.

[Lisa-Marie]

Luisa, I finally got around to baking this today, using a cup of black treacle, and half a cup of golden syrup. It is wonderful stuff, and a fitting way to spend my lazy Sunday time.

I made bramble syrup(two handfuls of brambles, 4tbsp of sugar, a cup of boiling water, blended) to go with pancakes a couple of days ago, and the bitter-sweetness makes it a lovely accompaniment to this cake.

I am teaching a freind to bake at the moment, and am going to make this with her.

Thank you for the recipe, and the inspiration!

[Claudia]

Baking this in the morning would put the house to rights for the entire day! Lovely!

[Luisa]

Vivian - yes, you should use the liquid measuring cup for the molasses (and other liquid ingredients like the ones you listed).