Posted by Dorie Greenspan, February 28, 2008 at 12:30 PM
I don't know where you are, but I'm in Connecticut looking out at a bunch of snow. Sure, I've seen a robin or two, but it's not feeling rhubarbish around these parts yet, which is why these baby cakes, which Johanne Killeen, she of Al Forno in Providence, Rhode Island, made when she came to bake with Julia Child, look so good to me.
I know they look like moist little chocolate cakes, but they're really moist little hot and spicy cakes, sweet little things pumped up with ginger and black pepper and fortified with cocoa and espresso powder.
Johanne, a fabulous baker and a mistress of all that is small, likes to make this recipe in pans that are 4 inches across and 1 inch deep. If you don't have mini pans, you can try making the cake in muffin pans or use one 10 inch pan, in which case it will have to bake for 50 to 60 minutes.
The cakes are great with whipped cream and candied lemon zest and just as good with ice cream—particularly coffee ice cream. A couple of bites could give us northerners the patience we'll need to wait for spring.
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Posted by Jenn Smith, September 28, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Recipe adapted from Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts: Recipes from Citizen Cake
Read our review »
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon minced crystallized ginger
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsulfured blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup buttermilk
Procedure
1. Position a rack in the center on the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 4 1/2 by 8 1/2 by 2 3/4-inch loaf pan (or similarly sized 1 pound loaf pan).
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the chipotle chile, remove pan from heat, and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, crystallized ginger, ground ginger, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, whisk together the canola oil and egg until blended. Add the granulated and brown sugars, molasses, and honey to the oil mixture and stir until just combined. Then stir in the buttermilk and the butter-chile mixture. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto the rack.
5. Slice and serve warm with pear slices and softly whipped cream.
