Gingerbread (The modern way)

I had posted the recipe of traditional Christmas Gingerbread last Christmas time.For the recipe refer to this link :

Traditional Christmas Gingerbread

If you read through the recipe you will notice one classic characteristic – No baking powder is used in traditional Gingerbread!Reason – Baking Powder and its variants namely sour milk, vinegar, lemon juice and cream of tartar were used for leavening,increasing the volume of and lightening cakes and were discovered after the 1840’s!However the traditional Gingerbread recipe is stable since as early as 992 A.D and of course did not use any of these agents!

Recently a friend of mine from London spoke with me over traditional recipes and told me that people are liking a new variant of Gingerbread apart from the old fashioned recipe and as of now both the recipes are being made in some households.This new variant is that resembling a delicious Ginger Cake and only one important ingredient added to make the batter lighter – yes you guessed it – Baking Powder!I tried out the modern recipe with baking powder and was completely taken in by the simple yet subtle deliciousness of the recipe!

I had some stem Ginger leftover from last year and so added that.You can use Ginger candy/preserved Ginger or just dust the top with icing sugar!I also found a tin of Black Treacle and Golden Syrup at a provision store and bought both of them.For black treacle you can use jaggery syrup from the darkest Jaggery you can find.You can also use Molasses if you have it.Golden Syrup can be substituted with honey,corn syrup or maple syrup.

With a cup of coffee or tea its a total winner!

Preparation Time : 25 minutes

Baking Time : 60 minutes

Makes : 16 squares

INGREDIENTS

275 gms plain flour/all purpose flour/maida

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp Ginger powder

78 gms unsalted butter/refined Oil plus for greasing

78 gms brown sugar/muscovado sugar/organic sugar

78 gms black treacle (optional)/molasses/jaggery syrup

78 gms golden syrup/honey/corn syrup/maple syrup

2 eggs

150 ml milk

2 tbsp chopped Stem Ginger for the cake and for garnish

2 tbsp Icing Sugar for garnish

METHOD

Preheat oven to 160°C.Prepare a 7 inch square cake pan by greasing with butter/oil and dusting with flour.Or use a baking spray.

Sift all the dry ingredients – flour,baking powder,baking soda and Ginger powder and keep aside in a bowl.Add the 2 tbsp chopped Ginger and mix well till coated.

Add the butter,sugar,treacle and golden syrup in a saucepan and melt on the lowest heat so that the sugar melts.Keep aside for 10 minutes till the mixture cools slightly.

Crack the eggs and the milk into this wet mixture and beat well with a spoon or spatula till the eggs are nicely incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture 2 tbsp at a time and fold well.Mix well till everything comes together.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes till the cake rises and firms up.In case you want a sticky Gingerbread then bake for 45 minutes.Cool in the pan for 30 minutes and take out on a wire rack.

The baked Gingerbread (notice the lovely crack on top of the cake….

If not serving immediately then store in an airtight container (preferably in the refrigerator for countries like India).The longer the cake is stored the better the flavours develop!

Take out 2 hours before serving.Top with slices of stem Ginger and cut into squares.Sift icing sugar on top and serve!

The cake before serving…