Gingerbread cake

It's been a weird but altogether lovely Thanksgiving.  Due to in-law related conflicts and compromises, Jeff and I will be celebrating with my side of the family on Friday and his side on Sunday.  That left us with not much to do on Actual Turkey Day, so we decided to go to the movies.  Lately we've concluded that attending the earliest-possible matinee is the only way to go, and our local sixteen-o-plex starts showing them at 10:00 in the morning, usually.  Advantages of morning movies:

• usually we get the theater all to ourselves, or with a dozen other people at most
• the skeleton crew of popcorn-burning, hungover teenagers is amusing
• no line when dealing with skeleton crew
• half price, so no "I might as well be buying the DVD" feeling
• best seats in the house, guaranteed
• no maniacs, just weirdos.

And best of all, you leave the theater without feeling like the entire rest of the day is shot, which is especially nice in the winter.  It always saddens me to emerge from an afternoon movie into the pitch black night.

So there we were, Jeff and I, strutting up to the hungover teen to buy our tickets, when--ack!--we were informed that our movie of choice (Love and Other Drugs, best we could do today) wouldn't be shown until 11:00.  The internet made a mistake!  We had an hour to play with on a rainy day in a town where all but the most depressing stores and restaurants were closed.  What to do?

Jeff began craving pancakes and bacon.  We drove down various deserted frontage roads, but the usual suspects were all closed.  Then I spied a buffet place boasting a $4.99 all-you-can-eat breakfast menu, and it appeared to be open!  Twelve elderly people in farmer/Chicago Bears gear and comfortable shoes huddled near the entrance in the windy mist, shifting their weight from side to side as the clock ticked down to 10:00, when the Open sign lit up.  Jeff proclaimed, "The flannel floodgates have opened, " as we followed them inside.

We didn't smell any bacon and probably should have turned around, but we continued to follow the herd to the many troughs filled with...Thanksgiving food!  The buffet offered a choice of ham or turkey, and those were fine, but everything else was just about the worst, cheapest version of standard Thanksgiving fare imaginable.  Runny mashed potatoes.  Gravy obviously from a jar.  Cranberry sauce obviously from a can.  Tiny brussels sprouts breaded within an inch of their lives and fried until they had lost all vegetable-ness.  Undercooked rolls.  Substandard pecan pie.  The soundtrack for our meal: favorite songs from the 70s, such as "Machine Gun" by the Commodores and "Ramblin' Man" by the Allman Brothers Band.  I was having a blast.  I mean it, this was a surreal, funky good time, and I became a little emotional, gazing across the table at my sweet husband and not having cancer.  I raised my plastic tumbler and we enjoyed our kinda crappy Thanksgiving breakfast.

Later in the day I listened to a radio station that is now playing Christmas music 24-7 and made the above cake, whose recipe came from Cook's Illustrated magazine (their Holiday Baking special edition).  I had all of the ingredients at home except for two items, a Guinness and some ginger ale, which we were able to find at a grocery store that was mercifully open.  It's a gorgeous, fragrant cake, dense and tender and beautifully spiced.  It's easy to make and has been thoroughly tested by the good people at Cook's, whose enormous new book I am currently devouring.  Stay tuned or scroll down to the bottom for a photo of the cake that struck me kinda funny.

INGREDIENTS

• 16 T (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
• 2 1/2 C flour, plus extra for pan
• 2 t baking powder
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 2 t ground ginger <-- the recipe asked for 2 tablespoons, but I goofed and only put in 2 teaspoons.  Which Jeff and I agreed was enough!  But try 2 T if you like.
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t allspice
• 1/4 t pepper
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 4 t grated fresh ginger 
• 3/4 C dark molasses
• 3/4 C stout beer  <-- Guinness Draught

For the glaze:

• 1 3/4 C powdered sugar
• 3 T ginger ale
• 1 t ground ginger

DIRECTIONS

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375.  Grease and flour 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan. 

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat until bubbling.  Stir in ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Whisk eggs, sugar, and fresh ginger in a large bowl until light and frothy.  Stir in melted butter mixture, molasses, and stout until incorporated.  Whisk flour mixture into egg mixture until no lumps remain.

Pour batter into prepared pan and gently tap pan on countertop to release any trapped air bubbles.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Cool cake in pan 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet and let cool completely.

For the glaze: Whisk powdered sugar, ginger ale, and ginger in a bowl until smooth.  Pour glaze over cooled cake.  Let glaze set 15 minutes.  Serve.  Cake can be stored at room temperature, coverend in plastic wrap, for 2 days.

Heh!  The inside totally looks like marijuana.

Comments

[Melinda]

Know why there's a hole in the middle of a bundt cake? You put yer weed in it!

[kerry]

so glad you dont have cancer! well how was the movie? let us know and happy thanksgiving!

[Elle Sees]

that looks delish. i usually go to movies on tgiving day too. not this yr.

[Hotincleveland]

I'm going to be that annoying person who corrects everyone, but FYI, "Ramblin' Man" is not by Lynyrd Skynyrd but by those other bastions of '70s Southern rock, the Allman Brothers Band. That said, the cake recipe looks to die for. :)

[Kelly]

Melinda, that sounds like an Amy Sedaris idea.

Kerry, me too! The movie was pretty good, with great performances by Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal (sp?), but they put this real dud of a Jack Black wannabe in for comic relief and it just didn't work. They marketed it as a comedy in the Knocked Up mold, but it was more of a chick flick, especially toward the end.

Cleveland, THANK YOU! I Googled "Ramblin' Man Lynard Skynard" last night to see if the song was indeed theirs, and somebody else claimed that it was theirs. The internet made another mistake!

[steinbolt1]

Don't post this if you don't want to. I'm just sharing a blog I've been frequenting for some time:

http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/

Wonderful art and background pieces from various animated movies. I think you'll enjoy it. The blog has a ton of images to go through.

[teresa in richmond]

so glad you've discovered (or had already known about but hadn't mentioned yet) Cooks Illustrated -- it's like Julia Child mixed with Popular Science! Come for the recipes, but stay for the geeky explanation of why 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk is better than either 2 or 3 whole eggs!

[Christmas meals]

Yes this is definately making appearance on the table this Christmas. Thanks for the recipe, I'll let you know how it turns out