Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Blackstrap Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce

This is a fantastic recipe from The Happy Lunchbox by my wonderful knitting friend Renee Pottle, who was kind enough to let me post it here.

Because this gingerbread has no sweetener besides molasses, using all blackstrap might make it a little strong for your taste. You can use sweet molasses instead or a combination of both.

We have an old family tradition of always serving gingerbread with lemon sauce. Pass the sauce around the table to pour over the gingerbread.

1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup potato flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
dash salt
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup oil
1 cup hot water
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º. In an 8 inch baking dish, mix together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and salt with a fork.

Add molasses, oil and water. Mix well, using the fork to break up all lumps. Stir in the candied ginger, if using.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (it took 45 minutes in my oven), or until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in pan on a wire rack. Makes 9 large servings.

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup sugar
1 TB cornstarch
1 cup water
1/8 cup margarine (Willow Run and Earth Balance are vegan and trans-fat free)
1 TB lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Whisk sugar and cornstarch together in a small saucepan. Gradually stir in water, and heat over medium high until boiling, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Boil for 2 minutes, until sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened.

Remove from heat and stir in the margarine, lemon juice, and zest. Serve immediately or refrigerate several hours or overnight; the sauce will thicken more as it cools.

9 comments:

Nic said...

Jennifer, this sounds (and looked in the photo) very delicious. I can't wait to try it, though I think I'll wait until a non-100 degree day here in SoCal.

Anonymous said...

This was excellent. Wonderfully moist for a vegan cake/bread. And the lemon sauce is heavenly! Thanks!

hyphen_helena said...

This is incredibly delicious. I made it tonight for the second time and it's now my favorite baked good. Thanks!

JSTDNCEALRGHT said...

Mmm looks great! I cant wait to try it. Willow run margarine is fully hydrogenated though.

i'll close my eyes said...

Hello I would like to make this but I'm wondering about the potato flour. Why do you use this? I hope my local specialty store may have this in bulk though I do not recall ever seeing potato flour in bulk. Maybe because I was not looking for it and overlooked it. If it is not in bulk I would like to use just regular flour instead, or a different type of flour that would be found in bulk. What does the potato flour do? I hope to hear from you soon. :)

Jennifershmoo said...

The potato flour adds moistness and replaces egg in the recipe -- don't leave it out or replace it with regular flour. I found potato flour in bulk at my local health food store. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I had to share the link to this song
"blackstrap molasses and the wheat germ bread". I was looking for a good source for the molasses and found it by happy accident...

http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=2048

Enjoy! Hopefully I will find my molasses now so that I can make this stuff!

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tamara said...

This was awesome and I transformed it into GF too! I bought it as a dessert to a dinner party and everyone raved! Thanks for your great recipes!