TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

I was really excited when I saw this recipe. Chocolate? YUM! Ginger? YUM! Chocolate and ginger? YUMYUMYUM. This recipe did not disappoint.

My favorite ginger recipe of all time is for Double Gingersnaps. I've been making this cookie recipe for forever. I haven't ventured much into other ginger baked goods. There are three types of ginger in this recipe: fresh, powdered, and candied. The chocolate is in chunks in the cake, melted and added to the batter, and in the frosting on top.

This was a slightly fussy recipe. Only slightly, though. The fresh ginger needed to be chopped fine and mixed with some sugar (1). The dry ingredients needed to be mixed together (2). The chocolate had to be melted (3). The chocolate that wasn't melted had to be chopped (4). Then all of the components eventually had to be mixed together (5). Plus there was the baking pan. That's SIX cooking vessels for one recipe. Thank goodness the husband does the dishes! (Thanks, Honey! Love you!)

Anyway, I followed the recipe as written, except I didn't put the cake on a baking sheet. That usually messes with my baking. The house smelled wonderful as it was baking and for quite a while after.

This was baked in a 9-inch square pan. Dorie advises turning the cake out on to a rack to cool and then flipping it over to ice. I didn't even bother. I had a lovely square cake bottom looking up at me. After it was cooled, I made the icing. It was much more glaze-like. (tangent -- what's the difference between frosting/icing/glaze?) This was EASY icing to make. As a matter of fact, I think this is my new go-to glaze for things like tube or Bundt cakes.

I decided to put my cake right on the serving plate. Dorie noted that we might want to trim off any brown edges, and she cuts the cake into squares before serving. I did not. The icing had a lovely glossy sheen. I poured it on top and let it drip down the sides a little.



Here is a cross section of the newly sliced cake.



Here's my slice. Don't even think about trying to take it from me!



A slightly different view where you can see the icing.



We all really liked this cake. This is definitely a recipe that will be made again at our house. We were divided on the frosting, however. The boy and I liked the cake with the icing. The husband and the girl didn't mind it, but thought it might be better without. Or maybe with some sweetened whipped cream instead. Regardless, it didn't last long in my house. I'm glad we didn't cut off the brown edges. They were really good. Maybe I should have, and then I wouldn't have had to share.... Anyway, this cake gave us about 16 slices and not the nine that Dorie called for. Those would have been pretty big slices.

Thanks, Heather, of Sherry Trifle for picking such a great recipe. I'm glad to add another ginger recipe to my arsenal. Next week -- the world famous World Peace cookies. Looking forward to it!