Gingerbread Pudding Cake

When I tell you you absolutely MUST make this, I'm not kidding. It's simple. Really simple. And oh-so-very delicious. It probably looks like a pile of gooey something with whipped cream. Well, it is, sort of. I've enjoyed pudding cakes for years, and was surprised at the cooking class that was held at my house yesterday, that lots of people don't know about pudding cake. They'd never heard of it. Never seen it. I've made both chocolate and lemon pudding cake, but never gingerbread.

Pudding Cakes are different. Obviously, they're not quite a true cake, or a true pudding either. They kind of defy explanation. Online I didn't even find a very good definition about pudding cake. I went to my usual source, Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, a fascinating tome about the chemistry of cooking. This is the first time I've struck out, not finding an explanation in his book. And, as I said, nothing online either. Nor in my cooking encyclopedia, nor Martha's Baking Handbook. Not even Dorie Greenspan. So, you'll just have to settle for my homespun explanation.

A pudding cake starts off with a cake batter. It's placed in a high sided ovenproof dish, then you pour boiling water (sometimes with butter added in this case) over the top. In the baking process, the cake part becomes a layer that kind of floats on top, and the hot water mingles with some of the batter and makes a pourable pudding underneath. You serve it warm to hot. Once it cools, the pudding part that made a nice puddle on the plate when you served it (as in the picture at top), becomes a thicker pudding. Which is why you want to serve it warm. The whole thing is some kind of chemical magic.

Probably the most common pudding cake is lemon. Southerners here in the U.S. think they own lemon pudding cake, I think. It's a regular staple in the Southern diet. When I searched online I found several recipes with Southern roots. The one I've always made came from a friend in England. So maybe its origins are English. I simply don't know. Maybe somebody who reads my blog will know! Or will have some kind of cooking encyclopedia with an explanation.

Anyway, the teacher, Tarla Fallgatter, used my home for the cooking class for this month. The hostess gets to choose the theme, and I opted for soups and chowders. And she always makes a dessert too. Tarla had mentioned that she'd made this dessert at several classes recently and it was met with lots of raves. Mine are now added to it.

Cook's Notes: Tarla cautioned us that you don't want to overbake the cake. But it can't be underdone, either, or it will be gummy. So I've included a photo of the top of the cake when she removed it from the oven (below). It had large cracks in the cake, but when you jiggled the baking dish, the cake was one solid piece and cooked through (no soft or slushy part in the middle, which was the last part to cook), and the cake did move slightly in the dish. If you aren't fond of all the gingerbread spices, you can halve them. Tarla had doubled them because she likes the spicier version. I did too.

Gingerbread Pudding Cake
Recipe: Tarla Fallgatter, cooking instructor
Serving Sizes: 8
CAKE BATTER:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces unsalted butter -- room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses -- mild
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar -- packed
WATER MIXTURE TO POUR ON TOP:
1 1/2 cups hot water
5 tablespoons butter -- melted
TOPPING:
1 cup heavy cream -- whipped, with sugar and vanilla to taste
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8x8x2 glass baking dish, or other high sided casserole dish of similar size.
2. Mix dry ingredients together. Beat butter and sugar in a food processor, then add egg. Add molasses and 1/2 cup water ad pulse in. Pulse in dry ingredients just to blend. Transfer mixture to the buttered baking dish and sprinkle top with brown sugar.
3. Melt the 5 T. butter in a saucepan and add the 1 1/2 cups hot water and bring to a boil. Cool just slightly. Carefully pour this mixture over the cake batter.
4. Bake until the gingerbread is cracked on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Do NOT overbake. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, then scoop warm pudding cake, with the sauce it makes, into shallow bowls and serve with whipped cream.
Per Serving: 431 Calories; 25g Fat (51.0% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 50g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 102mg Cholesterol; 294mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 5 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.

Printer-friendly recipe, click title at top.

Caramelized Apple Gingerbread

(photo taunton.com)

Almost nothing heralds Fall more than gingerbread and pumpkin cake, pie. Cool weather would help too, but alas, here in Southern California we're in the low 100's every day. But, back to Fall cooking here. Until I tried this cake, I thought a gingerbread is a gingerbread is a gingerbread. Sure, you could have a more dry one, maybe a moist one, one more highly spiced than another. But I doubt I would have thought a gingerbread could be something I'd really rave about.

Then Cherrie and I went to a cooking class at one of our favorite cooking school haunts, Our House South County, and Sarah made this fabulous cake. It just went right over the top for me. I've made it several times since. The apples make it different. I'd just never had apple gingerbread before. But then you add the "caramelized" part of it and it really did shoot through the moon. This cake isn't hard, although it does take a bit of extra time to cook the apples and make the caramel. What a terrific accompaniment to a tummy warming dinner tied to fall flavors. If you make this, I guarantee you, you'll have a hard time staying out of it.

Caramelized Apple Gingerbread
Recipe: Our House, South County
Servings: 10
POACHED APPLES:
6 whole apples -- baking type - Pippin or Granny Smith
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
CARAMEL SAUCE:
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
GINGERBREAD:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter -- softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup dark molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 cup sour cream
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. POACHED APPLES: Peel, core and halve the apples, then place in a large stock-pot style pan large enough to hold all of them in one layer. Add sugar, vanilla and water to cover them. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat and simmer until apples are just beginning to soften, but barely still retain their shape, about 8-10 minutes. If using Granny Smith apples, it may take longer. With a slotted spoon, remove apples from poaching liquid and reserve.
3. CARAMEL SAUCE: Melt butter in a 9-inch nonstick round cake pan on a very low burner. Add the corn syrup and brown sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is completely melted, then remove from heat. Gently turn the apple halves flat side down on top of the caramel mixture.
4. GINGERBREAD: Cream butter and sugar with mixer. Add the egg and mix completely. Add molasses and mix in completely. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and ginger. Add the dry ingredients and sour cream alternately to the butter/sugar mixture until mixed in thoroughly. Pour this over the apples and level with a spatula. Place cake pan on the center rack in the oven and bake for 50 minutes to one hour. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes.
5. Serving: Invert cake onto a serving platter and top each slice with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
NOTES : Ideally you should serve this cake when it's warm. If you want to make it earlier in the day, leave it in the cake pan once you take it from the oven. Once cool cover with foil, then when you're ready to serve it, gently reheat for about 10-15 minutes at 250°, then invert onto the serving platter as indicated. This cake is not as sweet as you might think. Be sure to cook the apples until they're almost falling apart because they do retain their shape in the cake pan and don't cook much more.
Per Serving: 499 Calories; 16g Fat (28.4% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 88g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 60mg Cholesterol; 256mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 3 Fat; 3 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click on title at top.