Chocolate Gingerbread Cake with~
Vanilla Cardamom Cream Cheese Icing

I call this "Waiting for Cream Cheese"

On my walk home from work last night I met up with a womans ankle boot, probably about size 8, sitting smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk on 34th St. I didn’t stop to take a closer look at the boot although now I'm kicking myself (bah-dum-bum) for not inspecting it closer because I’m curious about who designed the shoe; it had an aura of expensive about it. Now, before I ask the obvious question I just want to preface it by saying that this is not an unusual sighting for me, I have actually seen this many times (with different types of shoes) in my almost 23+4+3+2+1+ 5 years on this earth. Is this a NYC thing or does it happen elsewhere too? This is the kind of thing that agitates me- HOW DO YOU JUST SO HAPPEN TO LOSE A SHOE AND NOT RETRIEVE IT? How?

It has been an exhausting week here at MH5. The baby is still sick and we have now changed her name from Ellina to Hurlina--it has been that kind of week. Enough with the laundry already! Joking aside; I still feel somewhat helpless and am still stumbling around trying to find the right groove with her and how to comfort her, it seems like every time she gets sick she has different comforting needs. This time around nothing seems to be working except just laying in my arms, which is more than fine by me, but makes it very hard to go to the bathroom at times. I've been lucky that baby daddy has had a light work schedule this week so I've had more help than usual with the day to day and that has been a real blessing. I think I would have gone insane otherwise. Anyway, I hope this doesn't last much longer because I want my happy baby back.

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I did do two things that made me happy this week; the first was get away for a few hours for some much needed “me” time. I weighed all my options and decided that of all the things I should have been doing what I really wanted to do was go to the thrift store and wander around for a few hours touching other peoples stuff and going through other peoples books. I can’t tell you what a world of good that did for me, I was able to clear my mind for a little while AND I scored big time finding 3 books I'm looking forward to reading; "Frenchman's Creek" by Daphne Du Maurier, "The Raw and the Cooked" by Jim Harrison and "The Ballad of The Sad Cafe" by Carson McCullers.

I call this "Waiting for fork"

The other thing I did was bake a cake (recipes to follow). It wasn't just any old cake though, it was a cake I made from an idea I had in my head; the fact that it turned out well, was just...well...it was the icing on the cake!

I have recently been looking for ways to clear out the spice cabinet a little. I have some things in there that are now approaching the 1 year mark and while I can't stand the thought of just chucking them out I also don't want to use them past the 1 year mark because I have no idea how long they were around before they came to live with me. I do buy most of my spices at Kalustyans; it is a fabulous store that I have the great pleasure of living close to and because I know they are a high traffic establishment I trust that most of the spices I buy from them are fresh, but even so I still I don’t like using anything past a year.

I decided a ginger cake would be just the thing to make and I knew that Tom and “the locusts” would appreciate a little snack. I found a basic recipe for Gingerbread Cake on Epicurious and using that as a guideline I altered the recipe to fit what I was looking for which was a moist chocolate ginger/spice cake that gave a little bite from the ginger and a little heat from the white pepper with little bonus pockets of chocolate love where the mini chips hadn’t quite melted. I also wanted to frost it with a tangy cream cheese frosting that had a little bit of a surprise to it and that is where the cardamom fit in. I think I achieved what I was looking for quite successfully, Tom and “the locusts” raved about it, but I was a little disappointed, I think I could have added more of all the ingredients but I was too afraid to overwhelm people with all the different flavors. I did run out of molasses while I was in full swing with the baking and with the baby being sick I didn't want to go out so I topped off the 1/3 cup of molasses with 2/3 cup of Lyle's Golden Syrup and all I can say is YEAH!

The frosting idea came from another Epicurious recipe for Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting but which I then turned into something special by adding the cardamom. I have to tell you, that vanilla cream cheese frosting recipe called for FOUR CUPS of powdered sugar, I used one cup and thought it was bordering on the very sweet side. If you ever decide to use the Epicurious recipe consider this a warning. I ground my own caramom from green pods that I had on hand but you can more than successfully use pre-ground powdered cardamom. I would err on the side of caution when adding it to the frosting because this is a strong mu-tha of a spice. Things can go wrong way too fast and you can suddenly end up with something that tastes a lot like perfume if you are not careful.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
• large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup robust molasses mixed with 2/3 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup and then mixed with 1 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or regular size)

Frost With: Vanilla Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, spices, cocoa, espresso powder and salt.

Beat together the shortening, sugar, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. In 3 batches, alternately beat in the flour mixture and molasses mixture at low speed until smooth. Pour the batter into a greased 9- by 2-inch square metal baking pan or 2 loaf pans.

Bake cake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes depending on your oven. Cool cake in pan on a rack. If you like you can store it until the next day which will let the flavors mellow and develop better but who can wait?

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This step is optional, the cake is good without it but it also compliments the spices in the cake adding a new dimansion to the yummy goodness.

This is very much a "to taste" recipe, I like my frosting a lot less sweeter than most people do so I cut way back on the sugar but you can always add more. The original recipe used 4 cups! I added the cardamom gradually stirring and tasting each time until I achieved the desired taste, I sugeest doing the same especially if you are not keen on cardamom.

Vanilla Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Using electric mixer, beat 12 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter and vanilla extract in large bowl until smooth. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time (if using more than 1 cup), beating until smooth after each addition. Gradually add the cardamom powder increasing the amount after each taste until desried amount is reached.

Written by Deb on March 18, 2005 04:02 AM