Fly fisher folk don’t live by delicious grilled food, hearty soups and cheap beer alone.
Now and again they enjoy fine baked goods – breads and biscuits butter-melting-hot from the oven, cookies (even breakfast cookies) and cakes.
A couple of weeks ago She Who Must Be Obeyed needed an upscale break-time snack for a training session she was hosting; she envisioned something with a more festive, seasonal twist than run of the mill coffee cake.
After a bit of head scratching I suggested she serve this shamefully simple Gingerbread Cake and dress it up with a Cream Cheese and Currant frosting.
This is a dense, rich, deeply flavored cake that an 8 year old could put together (putting it in the range of at least 50% of male fly fishers in the kitchen); even better, its spicy flavor palate is superbly balanced by the underlying molasses and brown sugar notes. Cream cheese frosting makes anything better; the currants raise this one another notch.
Impress the family. Put down the fly tying gear, the shotgun and elk rifle. Bake this cake and surprise the hell out of everyone.
You’ll be well on the way to becoming the renaissance man you’ve always wanted to be.
1 cup good molasses
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter
1 cup boiling water
4 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 lb. box powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup dried currants
Preheat the oven to 325.
Liquids first. Stir the molasses, brown sugar and softened butter together in a large bowl. Add the bowling water and stir until the butter has melted. Beat the eggs in thoroughly, one at a time.
Batter up. Combine the remaining dry ingredients, add to the egg-molasses mixture and stir until smooth.
Bake. Pour your smooth batter into a well-buttered 9×13 pan; bake for 50 to 60 minutes (toothpick test in center comes out nice and clean). Cool completely.
Frosting time. Beat the cream cheese and butter until nice and fluffy; beat in the vanilla. Now gradually beat in 2 cups of powdered sugar. Taste and add more powdered sugar to reach whatever level of sweetness you prefer, up to another two cups. Mix the currants in on low speed or by hand. Frost the cooled cake saving some of this frosting to eat right out of the bowl.
Enjoy.
