One of the reasons I maintain this blog is to have a record of my baking history to use for my own reference -- to keep track of the recipes I've tried and their outcomes. But sometimes I forget that I've baked something before. This has actually happened to me three different times in the last two months. First, I made the "Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies" from Dorie's Cookies without realizing that the "Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownie with Salted Peanuts" I've been making for years are a nearly identical recipe also by Dorie Greenspan. (There are a few minor differences between the two recipes; the cookbook version uses all bittersweet chocolate in the brownie and also calls for cold eggs in the brownie batter -- something that goes against all my baking instincts.) Second, as I recently posted, I also made the Black Forest Cupcakes from Baked Occasions without realizing that they are essentially the Devil's Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting from Baked Explorations with cherry jam filling added.
And it turns out that the second recipe I tried from Abby Dodge's The Everyday Baker cookbook -- her "Sugar-Crusted Triple Ginger Pound Cake" -- is a very close relative of her "Double-Ginger Sour Cream and Bundt Cake with Ginger-Infused Strawberries" in Bon Appétit that I baked back in 2015.
It's interesting comparing my experience baking the cake this time around to my previous effort. First, there are a few slight differences between the two recipes. The "double-ginger" version of the cake has ground ginger and crystallized ginger in the batter, and the "triple-ginger" version adds grated fresh ginger as well. The triple-ginger version uses slightly more flour, as well as a mixture of granulated sugar and brown sugar instead of just white sugar.
In my post about the double-ginger version of the cake, I mentioned how much I love the Penzey's Australian crystallized ginger I used, despite the very steep price. It so happens that when I made the triple-ginger cake, I had an ample supply of both Penzey's ginger as well as some much more reasonably priced diced crystallized ginger from nuts.com (current price for the latter is $6.99 a pound, while the former is $23.99 for a 18.8-ounce bag). I went with the nuts.com crystallized ginger and the the good news is that the cake still tastes amazing even with the less expensive ginger. Don't get me wrong -- the tender and fiberless product from Penzey's is the Rolls Royce of crystallized ginger and you can definitely taste the difference between brands when eating the ginger plain. But you don't always need to spend a pretty penny to get a great-tasting finished product.
This time I went ahead to make the ginger-infused strawberries. The cookbook version of the recipe never tells you to strain the ginger syrup but I did because it seemed like the natural thing to do. The strawberries are so good and they are the perfect accompaniment to this cake. Even though last time I skipped the strawberries and loved the cake plain, now that I've had it with the ginger berries I don't know that I can ever go back.
I served this cake at the same time I served Dodge's Sparkling Coffee-Marbled Bundt Cake, and I personally thought this cake was clearly superior between the two, even without the fruit accompaniment. It has a lovely dense, pound cake texture, loads of hot-sweet ginger flavor, and it actually tasted better on days two and three. The crunchy sugar coating is just a bonus. I'm so happy that I unwittingly made this cake again.
Recipe: "Sugar-Crusted Triple Ginger Pound Cake" from The Everyday Baker by Abigail Dodge, cake recipe available here.
Previous Post: "The Sweetest Hot Stuff: Double-Ginger Bundt Cake," September 15, 2015.
And it turns out that the second recipe I tried from Abby Dodge's The Everyday Baker cookbook -- her "Sugar-Crusted Triple Ginger Pound Cake" -- is a very close relative of her "Double-Ginger Sour Cream and Bundt Cake with Ginger-Infused Strawberries" in Bon Appétit that I baked back in 2015.
In my post about the double-ginger version of the cake, I mentioned how much I love the Penzey's Australian crystallized ginger I used, despite the very steep price. It so happens that when I made the triple-ginger cake, I had an ample supply of both Penzey's ginger as well as some much more reasonably priced diced crystallized ginger from nuts.com (current price for the latter is $6.99 a pound, while the former is $23.99 for a 18.8-ounce bag). I went with the nuts.com crystallized ginger and the the good news is that the cake still tastes amazing even with the less expensive ginger. Don't get me wrong -- the tender and fiberless product from Penzey's is the Rolls Royce of crystallized ginger and you can definitely taste the difference between brands when eating the ginger plain. But you don't always need to spend a pretty penny to get a great-tasting finished product.
This time I went ahead to make the ginger-infused strawberries. The cookbook version of the recipe never tells you to strain the ginger syrup but I did because it seemed like the natural thing to do. The strawberries are so good and they are the perfect accompaniment to this cake. Even though last time I skipped the strawberries and loved the cake plain, now that I've had it with the ginger berries I don't know that I can ever go back.
I served this cake at the same time I served Dodge's Sparkling Coffee-Marbled Bundt Cake, and I personally thought this cake was clearly superior between the two, even without the fruit accompaniment. It has a lovely dense, pound cake texture, loads of hot-sweet ginger flavor, and it actually tasted better on days two and three. The crunchy sugar coating is just a bonus. I'm so happy that I unwittingly made this cake again.
Recipe: "Sugar-Crusted Triple Ginger Pound Cake" from The Everyday Baker by Abigail Dodge, cake recipe available here.
Previous Post: "The Sweetest Hot Stuff: Double-Ginger Bundt Cake," September 15, 2015.
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