English Gingerbread Cake

I baked the English Gingerbread Cake the same day as the Classic Carrot Cake, and the gingerbread got somewhat neglected in the photo area. It's a pretty simple cake to bake and the presentation is not elaborate either--quite appropriate for a gingerbread. The batter is mixed up, the cake bakes in a round or square pan, then a lemon-butter syrup is brushed on the top of the cake while it's still in the pan. The cake is then turned out, the syrup is brushed on the bottom crust, then the cake is turned back over and allowed to cool.

My gingerbread cake baking went smoothly until the 'turn out on rack' part and my good racks were already in use cooling the carrot cake layers. The flimsy wire rack that I used sagged while the cake was on it and I was brushing the lemon-butter syrup on the bottom, and the top of the cake touched the counter. When I turned the cake back right-side-up, cake stuck to both the rack and the counter top. Oh, well, not a big deal--I just served it upside down.

The taste test? This cake is not gingery enough for my tastes in gingerbread--it's heavy on the cinnamon, too, giving closer to a spice cake effect. I also tend to prefer my gingerbreads darker and moister. The lemon syrup was perhaps the best touch, and I think if I had wanted to serve the leftovers the the family again I'd have dug out my grandmother's lemon sauce recipe that she always used over gingerbread. In the same vein, my older niece said she thought the parts where the lemon-butter syrup had penetrated were really good--the rest she found unexciting. On the other hand, when the leftovers went into the office a co-worker stopped in to tell me she liked it so well she'd gone back for seconds.