So...I bought this cute honeycomb cake pan and have been looking for a reason to use it. I needed to find a dense cake recipe...to give the pan a try and decided to try the Nigella recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread. The cake is wonderful and I highly recommend it! There is a frosting to go with it which I did not bother with as DH loves to pour cream on cake anyway. It is a little too soft a cake for the pan and I had a tough time getting it out of the pan which is why I have no good whole cake photo. I will continue to look for the right cake recipe to try the pan again:).....But if you like the sound of Chocolate Gingerbread cake....do give this a go. This is an excellent cake for autumn and winter. Nigella comments that this cake is not aimed at children.....but I don't see a problem with it at all. I even bumped up the spicey by the cayenne addition as suggested by....A Cat in the Kitchen.
Chocolate Gingerbread Cake
175g butter (that's 1 1/2 sticks)
125 g brown sugar (or 1 cup + 2 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp white sugar
200 g golden syrup (or 3/4 cup)
200 g molasses (or 3/4 cup)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ( an optional addition suggested by another blogger)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp warm water
2 eggs
250ml milk (that's 1 cup)
275 g flour (or 2 cups)
40 g cocoa powder (or 1/3 cup)
175g chocolate chips
Preheat oven for 340 F. Prepare a 9 inch square pan but greasing and lining with parchment. Melt butter, sugars, syrup, molasses and spices in a large pot on the stove over medium low heat. Dissolve baking soda in water in a small dish and set aside. Combine flour and sift the cocoa together in a separate bowl and set aside. Remove the melted butter mixture from the heat and cool a bit so it is not too hot. Whisk into the butter mixture....the baking soda and water and 2 lightly beaten eggs. Mix the flour and cocoa into the butter mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
