Tuesday, January 27, 2009

TWD--Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Tuesday's With Dorie this week was chosen by Heather of Sherry Trifle and she chose Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread, pgs. 212-213 in Baking From My Home To Yours.  This was a good one!

But--I actually changed a lot of things about the recipe because I know that a lot of ingredients could be changed to make this gingerbread lower in fat and just a little healthier.  So--get Dorie's exact recipe from Heather's blog and here's the recipe as I made it.

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Chocolate Gingerbread Cake, adapted from Dorie Greenspan by Katrina

2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice (I ran out of ginger!)

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

5 tablespoon 50/50 Blend Smart Balance Butter, unsalted

6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup Egg Beaters w/touch of yolk

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup agave nectar (I didn't have enough molasses and the agave worked great!)

6 ounces Hershey's Special dark chocolate, 2 oz. melted & cooled, 4 oz. finely chopped

1 cup low fat buttermilk

Icing

3 ounces Hershey's Special dark chocolate , chopped

3 tablespoons 50/50 Smart Balance Butter, unsalted

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray silicone rose-shaped bundt pan with cooking spray (any 9x9-ish pan will work). 

Put the freshly grated ginger and sugar  in a small bowl and set aside.

Whisk the flours, baking soda and spices together.   Set aside.  In bowl of electric mixer, combine butter, applesauce and sugar and beat well.  Add Egg Beaters a little at a time and beat well for one minute.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Add molasses and agave nectar and beat until smooth.  With mixer on low, add the melted chocolate and the sugared ginger.  Then add the dry ingredients in three increments along with the buttermilk in two additions (ending with the dry ingredients).  Mix just until incorporated.  Fold in the chopped chocolate.  Pour batter into pan. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmold the cake. 

For the icing, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.  When melted, remove from heat and using a whisk, add the butter one tablespoon at a time.  Sift the powdered sugar over the chocolate and stir in.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Ice the gingerbread.

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I didn't want to have too much batter in the bundt pan, so I made five cupcakes.  Baked them for 14 minutes.  They turned out great.

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It is advised when making gingerbread that you check how much ground ginger you have left.  I'm just saying, you might want to check.  Another thing I suggest--how much molasses DO you have?  And as for bittersweet chocolate--I learned when I made Dorie's chocolate cupcakes last October, that bittersweet chocolate just isn't sweet enough for me, so I used Hershey's Special dark chocolate in this recipe.  The cake turned out moist and dense and flavorful with all the changes I made.  Baking it in the silicone bundt pan made for a fun, pretty cake, but I kept testing that thing from the time it had baked for 40 minutes until about 60 minutes before the knife really came out clean.  And with every extra minute, I could tell the edges were baking up nice and toasty and knew I wasn't going to be able to trim off the edges as Dorie suggested with the 9x9 pan.  So, all the little nooks and crannies of edges are a little--crunchy I guess and the rest is great.  I actually don't mind the edges, so it's all good.  I loved the flavor of this gingerbread.  Next time I make it, I already have more ground ginger and the fresh stuff tucked away in the freezer where it is supposed to last.  I'm happy about the changes I made and thanks Heather for this week's great pick!

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If you can't tell, I drizzled the icing on after putting it in a plastic bag and snipping a little off the corner.

A lot of people on the problems and questions boards were saying they thought the cake was even better the next day, but I loved it fresh and it seemed a little more dry the next day.  It won't stop me from eating little slices of it here and there--after all, I made it healthy, right!  ; )

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30 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

This cake looks gorgeous both inside and out!! Makes me want a piece with my coffee right now! Now, I tell you!

Pamela said...

Nice job with the changes. The cake looks really moist and I love the chocolate on top. I really enjoyed this cake and thought it was a bit better the next day. Glad I tried it.

Lisa Ernst said...

I am generally not a gingerbread fan, but this looks great with the added chocolate! I like the changes you made to make the cake healthier too. I may have to give this one a try.

Anonymous said...

Your icing is gorgeous! I used the Smart Balance 50/50 to (but no applesauce). I need to get going with the wheat flour. Good job lightening it up!

Anonymous said...

AH! Holy wow that looks amazing!!! That cake is AWESOME!!! And I love your changes! I'm always down to make things healthier! I used my molasses and ginger to make some of David Leibovitz's fat free (and only 95 calories for a HUGE cookie) ginger snaps! you should try those as well!

vibi said...

Beautiful, Katrina!
Gret minds think alike... I used the same bundt pan! LOL
I love how your ganache turned out!

Cooking for Comfort by Jennifer said...

WOW! You did a beautiful job on this cake! STUNNING!

Jennifer said...

You are so brave to tinker with the recipe! And your results look fantastic. I love the pretty shape of your pan.

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

Great idea to make it lower in fat. Looks beautiful doen up in the bundt pan.

Megan said...

The day before I made the cake, I cleaned out my spice cabinet. And subsequently threw out the cloves. Which is why I had to use nutmeg instead - so your advice to check you spices before you begin is always a good idea!

Elyse said...

I love the changes you made to the recipe! Cake looks delicious!

Lisa magicsprinkles said...

Nice job, and I appreciate the effort to make it a little healthier!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful gingerbread! I love the way you drizzled the icing.

Anonymous said...

What a show stopper that cake is...you transformed it into something really spectacular! I think you win this week, don't you?

kimberly salem said...

glad your healthy changes worked out! it looks so pretty :)

Cynthia said...

Liked the chocolate drizzle finish! Great job.

TeaLady said...

Wow!!! Who knew gingerbread could be elegant. Beautiful. It was good.

Debbie said...

Sounds and looks great. I love the combo of chocolate and ginger.

Anonymous said...

That looks delicious! I absolutely love it and the pan is so pretty!

RecipeGirl said...

Mmmmmmmmmmmm! Looks good, but I'm going to stick with my diet on this one. I like that there's ww pastry flour in there :)

Anonymous said...

looks like a gingerbread volcano! looks delicious. great job on making it healthier. i saw the calories on one piece on one of the blogs and... yikes!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Good job making it healthier! I also like your rose cake pan!

Hallie Fae said...

What kind of pan did you bake that cake in? It looks really yummy!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Katrina, I love all of your healthy changes. I almost always cut the fat and boost the nutritional profile when I bake, but I try to rein it in a bit for Dorie's recipes. But you definitely came up with a winning combination on this one. I've had to scrape the barrel for ginger when making gingerbread on more than one occasion!
Nancy

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

Oh come on, seriously? This looks incredible. I'm saving this right now - I've wanted a healthy gingerbread recipe for a while, especially one that looks like it's actually a chocolate fountain.

Anonymous said...

This cake is gorgeous! I love all the pictures you took, and how you lightened it up.

Cathy said...

Katrina, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the changes that you made to this!! I think that not having enough ginger might have actually been a stroke of good fortune -- I found this to be way too gingery. I would think that your flavor modifications would give it a nice overall "spiced" flavor without it knocking you over the head with ginger. Plus, your version is so much healthier. Love it!

Becky said...

Hey Katrina,

Those were the boiled egg cookies, but a picture I took of them the first time I baked them. No, the ones I made really were very brown borderline burnt, it was a sad, sad day in the Summers kitchen.

Jules Someone said...

What a fun cake pan. I'd like some, please.

Tiffany Winters said...

I have to admit, I haven't been commenting very well lately. but I was wondering how you like the silicone mold... I have always wanted to try one, but I keep putting it off. Looks delicious