Comments on: gramercy tavern’s gingerbread

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:03:29 +0000

Just made this tonight — it’s In. Credible. I used two loaf pans, oiled and floured the heck out of them, and cut the baking powder to one teaspoon. The loaves were still a little liquidy in the center at 40 minutes and I ended up leaving them in the oven for about 55. The loaves came out beautifully, with just a little crumb stuck to the pan, and they’re SO GOOD! I used fresh ginger, a couple of inches of root which probably worked out to 2 Tbsp. once grated. Oh my word. SO GOOD.

By: Lorna

Lorna — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:23:28 +0000

The gingerbread was a smashing success at my husband’s birthday dinner party, served with fresh chunky applesauce and a dab of marscapone. I sacrificed my hardly if ever used angel food pan, as the Bundt pan went to Goodwill just prior to finding this fab recipe. With ample butter, it slid out perfectly!
THANK you so much for this absolutely beautiful website. I only wish I lived next door to help out with your o-so-beautiful bebe, watch you cook, and maybe even get a taste of all of these great recipes. THANKS!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:11:53 +0000

I just made this yesterday and it is delicious.
I didn’t feel like going out to get the beer, so I tried coffee as a substitute as someone had suggested. I hadn’t considered the extra acid that coffee would contribute when I added the baking soda- instant science experiment! The foam subsided by the time the mixture cooled, though.
I also used 2 loaf pans instead of a bundt and they worked fine.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:34:29 +0000

Yery good cake, with a perfect texture, but quite savory and not very redolent of ginger. I might up the ginger for next time. I did lose a bit off the sides even with much flouring, but sifted powdered sugar hid it perfectly. It does sink in the middle and was a little damp there, even when the rest of the cake was perfectly baked. But once you flip it out it’s really no big deal. I will definitely make again.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:52:25 +0000

Oh, my goodness. I’m trying out dairy-free recipes for a friend’s party, and this came out just astonishing. I had no problems with cake-loss from my 10-inch Bundt pan on the trial, but I did butter generously.

By: sezbse

sezbse — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:10:38 +0000

“nteresting! There seem to be multiple versions of this cake online. The other version on Epicurious also suggests — in addition to swapping half the brown sugar with white sugar — grapeseed oil as an option (not only vegetable oil), uses half a tablespoon of baking soda instead of half a teaspoon and adds one tablespoon of freshly grated ginger at the end. Looks like both work and are raved over, so I am sure whichever you use, you will be pleased with.”

the other recipe says 1and a half tsp so maybe your half tsp was someone’s error?

By: Bethany

Bethany — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:15:08 +0000

Ha! I am now on round TWO of making this in one 24 hour period. I was in a rush the first time and accidentally put twice too much baking soda in it. DISASTER!! It totally boiled over in the oven and was a complete mess. But guess what… we still ate it. And ate it and ate it. It looked like a mangled wreck and was all gooey and weird but it tasted great! So now here I am at one o’clock in the morning making it again…. this time with the RIGHT amount of baking soda. If I can get it out of the pan in one smooth move I will be thrilled. This is a keeper. My family is nuts for anything with molasses, ginger, cardamom, etc. Thanks Deb!

By: Teka

Teka — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:08:11 +0000

This is one of my favorite winter treats – I always make it as the holidays approach. Once had an elderly friend of my mother-in-law say that it is the closest she’s ever had to the gingerbread her own mother used to make, so I happily passed on the recipe.

By: shuna fish lydon

shuna fish lydon — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:53:32 +0000

The sinking in these two cakes you mentioned is from a batter being too liquidy for the ingredients in it that give it structure to keep it up. Also the liquids in both the Honey Cake and the Claudia Fleming cake here are quite volatile.

Honey has enzymes in it that are impossible to kill and do funny things to eggs, for example. Guinness and molasses are extremely high in acid, and if this batter is not the exact right temperature, going into the exact right baking vessel, when all the stars are aligned just so, sinking will occur.

Batters that are basically liquid love shallow baking vessels, because of how heat distributes quickly and evenly through them, making for an even, efficient bake.

These acidic, volatile, liquid batters can’t reach very high, (no matter how many eggs, egg whites or chemical leavening you put in them,) so deep vessels are a struggle. And then you have the dreaded sink because after it struggles to reach, it has not enough structure to keep it there out of the oven, where it relies on structure ( = proteins) around air to keep its crumb intact.

All that said, this is a challenging recipe (I worked at Gramercy Tavern when it was in production) and my hat goes off to you for making it. For St. Patrick’s Day I will be making hundreds of them…

By: kirsten

kirsten — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:38:02 +0000

I just finally got around to making this. Holy wow is it delicious. I added sliced pears to the bottom of mine and it was super tasty. I stole that idea from the Pearl Bakery in Portland, OR. I have never commented before but I have to tell you I love this blog. Everything I have duplicated has turned out fabulous and I’m always looking here for inspiration.