Miette Gingerbread Cake

Miette’s gingerbread cake started as a seasonal cake, arriving with the crisp days of fall. But when we tried to cycle it out, there was so much demand that we made it available year-round. It remains our best-selling cake, very moist, deeply spicy, and topped with a silky cream cheese frosting. We bake it as a small cake, but you can also prepare it in small loaf pans.

To make this gingerbread, you boil the molasses and beer together and then add baking soda. The baking soda causes the mixture to expand rapidly, so add it very slowly to prevent the brew from going over the sides of your pot. Truth be told, the brew smells awful, but it’s the potion that makes the cake moist and flavorful. You can prepare the brew up to 5 days in advance; store it tightly covered in the refrigerator.

This cake is sensitive to being overmixed, which has the effect of making it develop too much height, and as a result, it won’t bake well. To avoid overmixing, we just strain out any lumps in the batter before the final pour into the pans.

Ingredients

1¼ cups (6½ ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1⁄8 teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons stout beer, such as guinness
¾ cup molasses
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup (5½ ounces) granulated sugar
½ cup (4 ounces) light brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup vegetable oil
about 2 cups cream cheese frosting
pink sugar flowers for garnish (optional; see sources)

Method
  1. Read through or review the “Cake-Baking Essentials” section.
  2. Liberally butter four 5-by-3-inch loaf pans or two 7-by-2-inch cake pans and dust with flour. Tap out the excess flour.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
  5. In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the stout and molasses and bring to a boil. Whisk in the baking soda. Be careful and whisk constantly, as the mixture will foam up when you add the soda. Immediately remove from the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
  6. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs and granulated and brown sugars and whisk on medium speed until well combined and lightened in color, 3 to 4 minutes. Slowly drizzle in the oil and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the stout mixture. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then return to low speed and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating just until combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. Fold by hand a few more times with the spatula. Strain the batter through a medium-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Divide it between the prepared pans.
  7. Bake until nicely risen and lightly browned at the edges, about 35 minutes for the loaves and 45 to 50 minutes for the cakes. (Check the loaves at 25 minutes.) Transfer to wire racks and let cool in the pans for 20 minutes. Run an offset spatula around the edges of the pans, then invert the cakes onto the racks and let cool for about 20 minutes longer. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate to ensure that the interiors are completely cooled before decorating, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. To freeze, wrap tightly in a second layer of plastic and store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
  8. To decorate the gingerbread, fit a pastry bag with a medium (½- or 5⁄8-inch) star tip and fill the bag with the frosting. Pull up the cuff and twist it to seal and tighten the frosting down into the cone. Purge the bag of air bubbles by squeezing the bag until there is a burst of air and frosting sputters out of the bag. Keep the bag tightly twisted so that the frosting doesn’t come back up on your hands. Starting in the center of each loaf or cake, pipe frosting in a tight spiral over the surface. Use an offset spatula to slightly smooth the surface of the frosting. Garnish with a pink sugar flower or two, if you like. Serve at room temperature.
Source
Miette, recipes from san francisco’s most charming pastry shop by Meg Ray with Leslie Jonath