Post #13 – Women’s Memoirs, ScrapMoir – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
By Matilda Butler
The sweet-bitter scent of dark, rich molasses hangs luxuriously in the air when I bake this simple-to-make-out-of-this-world gingerbread cake. All the ingredients are on the healthy list of foods, so you don’t even have to feel guilty when indulging in this treat. Think olive oil instead of butter. No eggs. No refined sugar. Whole wheat flour (with a gluten-free version shown below). Walnuts.
In 2002, we drove from our home in Gilroy to Eugene to visit our son, daughter-in-law, and new grandson. I took over their kitchen one afternoon to make a few of my favorite dishes, including caramel tofu, coconut rice squares, green beans with my homemade preserved lemons, and gingerbread cake.
Just as we were finishing the main course, the doorbell rang. Edward jumped up, saying “Wonder who that is?” He swung open the door and welcomed in Jessicca and Caleb who had stopped by with their new baby. Their timing was perfect as we were just ready for dessert.
Edward, like the grandfather he was named for, loves people and makes friends easily. He had met this Jessicca and Caleb in their birthing class. We used to tease my father that he never met a person he didn’t like. Edward is clearly made from the same mold.
There was plenty of food and we all sat in the living room eating the gingerbread cake, laughing, and getting acquainted. Lots of compliments on my cooking, but I just assumed everyone was being polite. Not long afterwards, Edward requested the recipe for Gingerbread Cake.
This wasn’t a big surprise because he has loved cooking since he was small. A love spurred both by his grandfather’s joy in cooking and a present Santa brought him — Kenner’s Easy Bake Oven. Well, it was the early 1970s and we were determined to raise our sons in a non-sexist way. Boys, we felt, needed to know how to cook as much as girls.
Edward continues to like cooking but I suspect that desserts are really his favorite. He is a born experimenter, concocting cookies from whatever ingredients are on hand. When I pick up a cookie, I put it in my mouth and take a bite. When Edward picks up a cookie, he first smells it, trying to figure out the spices. Several years before he married, we gave serious consideration to starting a baking company together. We were going to use a western theme with the company logo shaped like an old-fashioned branding iron — Bar CCC for the California Cookie Company. As it turned out, we had the fun of developing numerous recipes, mostly bar cookies because they take less time to make, without the worry and expense of launching a successful business.
What I didn’t know, until recently, was that Edward had shared the gingerbread cake recipe with Jessicca. It seems that over the intervening years gingerbread cake has become her first choice to make for potluck dinners. She takes it everyplace. Now she has shared the recipe with numerous other families. It’s fun knowing about the growing circle gingerbread cake fans.
Meals and recipes connect families. It is lovely when they also connect new friends and get shared well beyond the original circle.
Give this gingerbread cake a try. Then share it and the recipe with your friends.
Gingerbread Cake
1 c blackstrap molasses
1/2 c olive oil
1 heaping T ground ginger
2 c whole wheat flour*
1 t salt
1 t soda (dissolved in 1 c hot water)
Topping (optional, but delicious):
1/4 c nonhydrogenated soy margarine**
1/2 c Sucanat***
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
3/4 c walnut pieces
Whisk together molasses and oil. Whisk in ginger. Sift in the flour and salt, stirring with a spoon until well mixed. Stir in the soda water, approximately 1/3 at a time until the mixture is smooth.
Rub olive oil into an 8 inch square glass or non-stick cake pan. Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Be sure to test that cake is cooked, but do not overcook before adding topping.
Topping: While gingerbread is baking, mix together the first five topping ingredients. When thoroughly mixed, add walnut pieces. Spread topping on gingerbread and put until broiler for 3-5 minutes until bubbling. Do not let nuts burn.
* Note: Since I developed this cake, I’ve gone gluten-free. If you would like to try this without gluten, I recommend replacing the two cups of whole wheat flour with: 1 cup almond meal; 3/4 c brown rice flour; 1/4 tapioca flour; 1 T ground flax seeds (optional); 1 t Xanthan gum.
** I use Earth Balance Margarine
*** Sucanat = SUgar CAne Natural is unrefined dried cane juice that retains all the minerals and vitamins in molasses.
