Post by lantana on May 22, 2020 7:02:07 GMT -5
A friend at work loaned me a copy of Ruth Reichl's book "Delicious!". I missed it altogether in 2014, when it was published. It is a novel whose main character is a young woman working for a gourmet food magazine that goes out of business in the 1990s. She auditions for the job with this cake, which plays a supporting role throughout the book. I have been off my reading game lately, but I am getting back into it, and this book is cute and interesting so far. At her job, she is the last one in the office, left to answer the "guarantee" line. She gets into their old library and tracks a series of letters from the 1940s between a young girl from Ohio and James Beard. There's a bit about being frugal with food and rationing. A little light reading in these times.
My question for you bakers: This cake uses a bourbon soak, and I would rather not soak the cake in alcohol. Is there something nonalcoholic I can use to replace the bourbon soak, or should I just skip it? Thanks for thinking about my question!
Ruth Reichl's Gingerbread Cake
Cake:
whole black peppercorns
whole cloves
whole cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature.
1 cup sugar
2 large pieces fresh ginger root (1/4 cup, tightly packed, when finely grated)
zest from 2 to 3 oranges (1 1/2 tsp. finely grated)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan.
Grind your peppercorns, cloves and cardamom and measure our 1/4 tsp. of each. (You can use pre-ground spices but the cake won’t taste as good.)
Grind your cinnamon stick and measure out 1 tsp. (Again, you can use ground cinnamon if you must.) Whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a small bowl.
In another small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk into the sour cream. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until the mixture is light, fluffy, and almost white. This should take about 3 minutes.
Grate the ginger root -this is a lot of ginger- and the orange zest. Add them to the butter/sugar mixture.
Beat the flour mixture and egg mixture, alternating between the two, into the butter until each addition is incorporated. The batter should be as luxurious as mousse.
Spoon batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, until cake is golden and a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Remove to a rack and cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
Soak:
1/2 cup bourbon
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
While the cake cools in its pan, simmer the bourbon and the sugar in a small pot for about 4 minutes. It should reduce to about 1/3 cup.
While the cake is still in the pan, brush half the bourbon mixture onto its exposed surface (the bottom of the cake) with a pastry brush. Let the syrup soak in for a few minutes, then turn the cake out onto a rack. Gently brush the remaining mixture all over the cake.
Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted or put through a strainer
5 tsp. orange juice
Once the cake is cooled, mix the sugar with the orange juice and either drizzle the glaze randomly over the cake or put it into a squeeze bottle and do a controlled drizzle.
My question for you bakers: This cake uses a bourbon soak, and I would rather not soak the cake in alcohol. Is there something nonalcoholic I can use to replace the bourbon soak, or should I just skip it? Thanks for thinking about my question!
Ruth Reichl's Gingerbread Cake
Cake:
whole black peppercorns
whole cloves
whole cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature.
1 cup sugar
2 large pieces fresh ginger root (1/4 cup, tightly packed, when finely grated)
zest from 2 to 3 oranges (1 1/2 tsp. finely grated)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan.
Grind your peppercorns, cloves and cardamom and measure our 1/4 tsp. of each. (You can use pre-ground spices but the cake won’t taste as good.)
Grind your cinnamon stick and measure out 1 tsp. (Again, you can use ground cinnamon if you must.) Whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a small bowl.
In another small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk into the sour cream. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until the mixture is light, fluffy, and almost white. This should take about 3 minutes.
Grate the ginger root -this is a lot of ginger- and the orange zest. Add them to the butter/sugar mixture.
Beat the flour mixture and egg mixture, alternating between the two, into the butter until each addition is incorporated. The batter should be as luxurious as mousse.
Spoon batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, until cake is golden and a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Remove to a rack and cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
Soak:
1/2 cup bourbon
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
While the cake cools in its pan, simmer the bourbon and the sugar in a small pot for about 4 minutes. It should reduce to about 1/3 cup.
While the cake is still in the pan, brush half the bourbon mixture onto its exposed surface (the bottom of the cake) with a pastry brush. Let the syrup soak in for a few minutes, then turn the cake out onto a rack. Gently brush the remaining mixture all over the cake.
Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted or put through a strainer
5 tsp. orange juice
Once the cake is cooled, mix the sugar with the orange juice and either drizzle the glaze randomly over the cake or put it into a squeeze bottle and do a controlled drizzle.
