Light Ginger Cake

In this month of July 2012, I said farewell to a friend I never met – Marion Cunningham.

When I discovered her Breakfast Book & Supper Book, I pored over them, Getting hungry and being inspired by so many of her recipes. Authentic and pure. Food you would want to share.

I had baked her soft gingerbread, more like a cake, just a few weeks ago and happened to take photos of it. Little did I know that I would use these shots very soon to express my gratitude to one of this country’s leaders of American cooking. A woman who began her career in food writing around the age of 50.

As with many of Marion’s recipes, the ingredients are simple and the procedure straight-forward. It’s a two-bowl process that can be put together in little time.

Because the crumb is very soft, don’t turn it half-way through baking (which is what many bakers do) and don’t open the oven door to peek (which is what non-bakers do). In this case, the cake rose beautifully.

Looking good

Honestly, even when I bake this and the cake comes out with a bit of a crater in the center, it’s No Problem. The house still smells dreamy and the cake tastes divine. If it should do that to you, ignore and cut into squares before serving.

Russ Parsons, food writer for the LA Times, wrote a beautiful piece to honor Marion.

This is how Russ summed up what was important to Marion – “delicious, simple food served to people who mean the most to us”. His favorite book that she wrote is The Breakfast Book and he cites her yeast-raised waffles as his favorite recipe in it. I don’t own a waffle-maker because I tend to resist appliances with a single purpose. But I just may have to put that resistance aside to check out those waffles.

Thank you, Marion. We will keep your recipes and philosophy going…

Ginger Cake a la Marion

Light Ginger Cake

Adapted from Soft Gingerbread in Marion Cunningham’s Breakfast Book, © 1987

Ingredients:

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease an 8” square pan.

Beat together sugar, molasses, oil and eggs in medium bowl. In separate bowl, mix salt, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, flour(s) and baking soda. Add to first mixture and stir until smooth. Add boiling water and beat briskly until you have a smooth thin batter.

Pour into pan and bake 40- 45 minutes.  Serve warm.

Makes 16 servings or 20 small servings.