Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread
8 to 10 servings for dessert – with whipped cream
INGREDIENTS – halve all sugars, leave butter as is.
- 2 cups/8 ounces/266 grams fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup/200 grams white sugar
- 113 grams unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup/133 grams dark brown sugar
- ½ cup/120 ml whole milk
- ½ cup/120 ml maple syrup
- ¼ cup/60 ml molasses
- 1 ½ cups/185g all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon/5g ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon/1g ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon BP
- ½ teaspoon/3 fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon bicarb
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 Tab /14 grams grated fresh ginger (from 1-inch piece)
PREPARATION
- Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9-inch square or round baking pan with parchment.
- In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together cranberries, granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Stir the cranberries over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and cranberries form a sauce that is syrupy and bubbling thickly, about 10 minutes. Aim to have about half the cranberries broken down, with the remainder more or less whole.
- In a separate saucepan, stir together the butter, brown sugar, milk, maple syrup and molasses over medium heat. Bring it to just barely a simmer and then remove it from the heat. Do not let it come to a boil, or the mixture may curdle.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda and black pepper. Beat in the butter-maple syrup mixture and then beat in the eggs. Stir in the ginger.
- Scrape the batter into the pan. Drop fat dollops of cranberry sauce onto the surface of the cake batter. Drag a long, slender knife through the batter in a swirly design, as if you are marbling a cake. Transfer the cake to the oven and bake it until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let the cake cool completely before eating it.
- The recipe has been designed to make ahead, and will taste as good 2 days after baking as it does on the same day. (It will keep for 4 to 5 days.) To store it, wrap it well, stick it in the fridge and then bring to room temperature before serving.
