Caramel Coated Ginger Cake

I've got a To Do List. It's long and pertains solely to food. Go figure.

The list never actually gets done, it sort of just sits in my head and grows larger in size each day. But it's nothing to stress about, cause it's all reward in the end. Hence, the first product of my Christmas cravings: Ginger Cake. Including a few more To Do's that I  can check off.

#2- Open that dang jar of molasses and use it (for the first time might I add). Check

 #13- Make spices look like an awkward couple. Check

#4- Picture with neatly placed ingredients. Check

I just love the deep amber color and flavor that the molasses gives the cake.

Like a giant gingerbread cookie, allow the cake to cool.

 

In the mean time, make your caramel!

Check.

Pour, then let it ooze and be very generous with the caramel. The cake can handle it, can you?

The cake was moist and the caramel accented the ginger beautifully!

I'll leave you with this picture to drool over. Don't worry your not alone.

Ginger Cake
adapted from cookingchannel.com

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup molasses

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk (any fat content)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an eight inch pie pan and line with parchment paper (you could also use a cake or square pan).

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg until well combined. Set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches, alternating with milk, until just combined. Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Basic Caramel Sauce
makes just over 3/4 cup

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)

1/2 cup, plus 2 tbsp-1/4 cup heavy cream

In a large sauce pan, combine sugar water and vinegar, and bring to a high boil over high heat. Allow mixture to boil for 2-5 minutes until it becomes a deep amber color, watch carefully to prevent burning. At this point whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream until combined and remove from heat. At this point the caramel is done, but you can add the remaining heavy cream, a tbsp at a time, until your desired consistency. Allow the caramel to cool for 5-10 minutes before pouring over the cake.

To reheat, simply microwave for 15 seconds or warm on stovetop on low heat.

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Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was my Thanksgiving experiment recipe. Thanksgiving? Really, your still on Thanksgiving Molly?

Yes, I know it's Christmas time. But I just cannot get over how bomb this was. And besides, this would be absolutely perfect at any time of the season. I assure you.

If you don't feel like or have the time to make your own pumpkin bread you can buy some or substitute any day old bread you have on hand. But this was Thanksgiving and I was going all out. I made the pumpkin bread a day in advance, then cubed and toasted them for 15 min. I wanted to eat that bowl like it was popcorn.

But I resisted and began custard-ing. Like the pumpkin bread wasn't enough, I threw in the rest of the canned puree into the mix. Oooh yea.

Smush

Pour in the custard and let those cubes of pumpkiny goodness soak in even more pumpkiny goodness. We suffered some custard losses and I'm not going to lie, spilled some curses along with it.

 I added a sugar walnut streusel to top it off and it made for fantastic texture and crunch. Sorry though,  didn't get many spectacular pics of the whole finished product.

But I had some experimental eating to do.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

adapted from Epicurious

1 loaf or 8 cups 1/2 in-1in cubed pumpkin bread

1 1/2 cups milk(any fat content)

1 1/2 cups half-n-half

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp bourbon (I didn't have any on hand, but by all means add it if you do!)

Cinnamon Walnut Streusel

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice(optional)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 flour

1/2 stick(1/4 cup) butter

For the Streusel:

Combine walnuts, spices, sugar, and flour into a small bowl. Using your hands, cut in butter till the mixture resembles course meal. Set aside.

For Pudding:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-in baking dish. Place cubed bread onto a baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. Allow to cool.

In a medium sauce pan, combine milk, half-n-half, vanilla, and sugar and bring to a simmer. 

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, maple syrup, and pumpkin puree. Slowly whisk in hot milk mixture until well combined. Whisk in bourbon.

Put cubed bread and any crumbs into the greased baking dish. Gently pour the custard mixture over the bread. Press down on the bread with your (clean)hand to make sure every piece absorbs some of the liquid. Sprinkle on the walnut topping then cover with plastic wrap and let soak for at least 30 min(I made mine in the morning let it soak for up to 6 hours. Be sure to turn off your oven if your not using it for a while). 

Place baking dish into a 9x13 baking dish and put on the oven rack. Fill the larger one with hot water about half-way up the pudding dish and bake for about 1 hour, until slightly puffed and center wiggles a bit. Remove from the oven and the water bath. Allow to cool for at least 30 min.