David Lebovitz' Fresh Ginger Cake

My cake baking has made a very delicious and successful start to the year with this amazing Fresh Ginger Cake, a recipe from David Lebovitz' Room For Dessert. This gorgeous book has tantalizing recipes for every occasion from fancy dinner (Champagne Gelee with Citrus Fruits & Kumquats) to after-school treat (Peanut Butter Cookies) and includes sections on frozen desserts, fruit desserts, and Liqueurs & Preserves.

Although this wonderful ginger cake came out exactly like the photograph in David's book, my photography has had a less auspicious start to the year. In fact, my camera died yesterday. Or rather the USB port in my camera died (the camera still works, I just can't get the pictures off). Happily, my friend Vegan Knitting rescued me with her camera so I got the shot above, but you know how it is trying to get a decent shot with a totally different camera. At least you can tell what it is in this picture.

David says this Fresh Ginger Cake is one of his most requested recipes and I believe it. It's so moist. The texture is heavenly. The only changes I made were that I only had 3/4 cup molasses so I used Lyles Golden Syrup to make up the difference. I also subbed All Spice for cloves because I didn't have cloves and All Spice was the closest substitute. I thought the 4oz of fresh ginger would be completely overwhelming, but actually it's perfect.

And, for anyone who's not familiar, David Lebovitz writes a wonderful blog about Living the Sweet Life in Paris.

Fresh Ginger Cake (adapted from Room For Dessert):

4 oz fresh ginger
1 cup mild molasses
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut oil
1 cup water
2 tsp baking soda
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350. Line bottom of a 9-1/2" springpan with parchment.

Peel the ginger, grate it, then finely chop.

In a mixing bowl, combine the molasses, sugar and peanut oil. Boil the water in a saucepan and add the baking soda (this was fun!). Add the water mixture to the molasses and combine. Add the chopped ginger.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper. Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture gradually, whisking to combine. Add the eggs and mix until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick in the center comes clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes before removing.