Classic Gingerbread Cake

Classic Gingerbread Cake

Published January 1, 2011. From Cook's Illustrated.

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Why this recipe works:

Ground ginger, grated fresh ginger, cinnamon, and ground pepper ensured our gingerbread recipe tasted like ginger. Dark stout, heated to minimize its booziness, added a bittersweet flavor to our gingerbread, and replacing butter with vegetable oil allowed the ginger flavor to shine. To keep our gingerbread recipe from sinking in the middle, we incorporated the baking soda with the wet ingredients and roughed up some of the batter to strengthen the flour, giving our gingerbread a more sturdy texture while maintaining its moistness.
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Makes one 8-inch square cake, serving 8 to 10

This cake packs potent yet well-balanced, fragrant, spicy heat. If you are particularly sensitive to spice, you can decrease the amount of dried ginger to 1 tablespoon. Guinness is the test kitchen's favorite brand of stout. Avoid opening the oven door until the minimum baking time has elapsed. If your cake pan has thin walls, you might want to wrap it with premade cake strips or make your own from cheesecloth and foil. This extra insulation will help ensure that the edges of the cake don't overbake. Serve the gingerbread plain or with lightly sweetened whipped cream. Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for 2 days.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup stout (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup mild molasses
• 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pan
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8-inch square baking pan.
   
   2. Bring stout to boil in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda (mixture will foam vigorously). When foaming subsides, stir in molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until dissolved; set mixture aside. Whisk flour, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pepper together in large bowl; set aside.
   
   3. Transfer stout mixture to large bowl. Whisk in eggs, oil, and grated ginger until combined. Whisk wet mixture into flour mixture in thirds, stirring vigorously until completely smooth after each addition.
   
   4. Transfer batter to prepared pan and gently tap pan against counter 3 or 4 times to dislodge any large air bubbles. Bake until top of cake is just firm to touch and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool cake in pan on wire rack, about 11/2 hours. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
   

Cooking Class

Not So Gingerly with Gingerbread

Most cake batters require a gentle touch to avoid developing glutens in the flour and, thus, a tough crumb. But vigorous stirring actually gave our super-wet gingerbread batter the structure necessary to keep the center from collapsing.

GENTLY STIRRED BATTER = SUNKEN CAKE CENTER

Shopping

Keys to Richer, Zingier Flavor

BITTERSWEET BEER
Dark stout contributes deep, caramelized notes.

FLAVOR-FREE FAT
Clean, neutral-tasting oil brings key flavors into clear relief.

A ROOTY BOOST
Fresh ginger kicks up the fiery, pungent notes of dried ginger.

BACKSEAT SPICES
Black pepper and cinnamon complement—without overwhelming—the ginger.

Step-by-Step

Insulating Cake Strip: Home Edition

Cake strips promote more even baking, preventing doming and cracking as well as keeping the edges of a cake from overbaking. This extra insulation is particularly important if the walls of your pan are thin.

1. SOAK STRIP Soak 2 by 32-inch piece of cheesecloth or folded newspaper with water. Gently wring out excess water.

2. FOLD IN FOIL Place damp strip at bottom of 36-inch length of foil. Repeatedly fold foil over dampened strip to cover to make 2 by 36-inch strip.

3. WRAP AROUND PAN Mold insulating strip around pan and pinch ends together to seal.

4. SECURE To ensure insulating strip stays in place around pan, secure with twine.

Skillet Soda Bread

Skillet Soda Bread

From America's Test Kitchen Season 9: Breadmaking, Simplified

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Why this recipe works:

Authentic Irish soda bread has a tender, dense crumb and a rough-textured, thick crust—definitely a departure from the more common Americanized soda bread, which is closer to a supersized scone. We wanted to try our hand at the authentic version of this bread, which relies on a simple ingredient list of flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk.
Our first tests focused on flour. A loaf made with all-purpose flour produced a doughy, heavy bread with an overly thick crust. To soften the crumb, we added some cake flour to the mix, and this made a difference. (It also made historical sense. Because of Ireland’s climate, the wheat grown there is a soft, low-protein variety more similar to cake flour than to American all-purpose, which is relatively high in protein.) A version made with all cake flour, however, was heavy and compact. A ratio of 3 parts all-purpose flour to 1 part cake flour proved best. With only the four basic ingredients of flour, buttermilk, baking soda, and salt, our bread was lacking in flavor and still a little tough; we turned to sugar and butter. Traditionally, very small amounts of butter and sugar are sometimes added to Irish soda bread, so we felt justified in using a minuscule amount of each. The sugar added flavor without making the bread sweet, and the butter softened the dough just enough without making it overly rich.
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Makes 1 loaf

If you do not have a cast iron pan the bread can be baked on a baking sheet although the crust won’t be quite as crunchy. Soda bread is best eaten on the day it is baked but does keep well covered and stored at room temperature for a couple of days after which time it will become dry.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter, optional

Instructions

1. 1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and adjust a rack to the center position. Place the flours, soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour using your fingers until it is completely incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk. Work the liquid into the flour mixture using a fork until the dough comes together in large clumps. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead briefly until the loose flour is just moistened. The dough will still be scrappy and uneven.
   
   2. Form the dough into a round about 6 to 7 inches in diameter and place in a cast iron skillet. Score a deep cross on top of the loaf and place in the heated oven. Bake until nicely browned and a tested comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with a tablespoon of melted butter if desired. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
   

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage

From Cook's Country | February/March 2012

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Why this recipe works:

Corned beef and cabbage makes its way to the dinner table (in this country, anyway) but once a year in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, and maybe for good reason. This meat can be unbearably salty, dry, and rubbery. And when cooked with the stale spice packet that often gets packaged with the meat, it’s flavorless at best. The accompanying vegetables are usually mushy, greasy, and monotone in flavor. To solve the dry, stringy meat texture, we got rid of the typical stovetop simmer and moved a covered pot into a low-temperature oven for gentler cooking. To help flavor the meat, we replaced some of the water with chicken broth and added celery, carrot, and onion, along with peppercorns, allspice, a bay leaf, and thyme, to the cooking liquid. For the cabbage, carrots, and potatoes typically served with the corned beef, we strained and defatted the cooking liquid and then cooked the vegetables in stages––potatoes first, then carrots and cabbage. A little butter added to the pot helped flavor the vegetables.
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Serves 6 to 8

Use flat-cut corned beef brisket, not point-cut; it’s more uniform in shape and thus will cook more evenly. When slicing the cabbage, leave the core intact or the cabbage will fall apart during cooking.

Ingredients

• 1 (4- to 5-pound) corned beef brisket roast, rinsed, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch thick
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 12 carrots, peeled (3 chopped, 9 halved crosswise)
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and quartered
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
• 1 head green cabbage (2 pounds), cut into 8 (2-inch) wedges
• Pepper

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine beef, broth, water, chopped carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and allspice in Dutch oven. Cover and bake until fork slips easily in and out of meat, 4½ to 5 hours.
   
   2. Transfer meat to 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Strain cooking liquid through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl, discard solids, and skim fat from liquid. Pour 1 cup cooking liquid over meat. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and let rest for 30 minutes.
   
   3. Meanwhile, return remaining cooking liquid to Dutch oven, add butter, and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and simmer until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add carrot halves and cabbage, cover, and cook until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer vegetables to serving platter and season with pepper to taste. (Reserve cooking liquid for making Creamed Chipped Beef using leftover corned beef; recipe at right.)
   
   4. Transfer beef to carving board and slice against grain into ¼-inch-thick slices. Serve with vegetables.
   
   TO MAKE AHEAD: Prepare corned beef through step 2. Refrigerate moistened beef and cooking liquid separately for up to 24 hours. To serve, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer meat to carving board and slice against grain into ¼-inch-thick slices and return to baking dish. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake until meat is heated through, about 25 minutes. While meat is heating, proceed with step 3.
   

Divide and Conquer

Oven Braise

We braise the beef for hours in low, even oven heat with chicken broth, spices, and vegetables for flavor.

Stovetop Simmer

As the meat rests, we briefly cook fresh vegetables in the braising liquid so they'll retain their flavor and texture.