Ginger cake - the forgotten recipes... blog # 33 by 'cookingwithmavis'

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ #33     Ginger cake - the forgotten recipes…

So?...whom of you know the meaning of the gloBal word “Meshugah”?...huh? (  pronounced:  “mishoogah”  )

‘ Meshugah ’  comes from Hebrew,  - and Yiddish too -  influenced By German..and some Polish I believe , …and adopted into the German modern spoken everyday language too…it means “crazy”…But, in My context, *crazy *  - as in:  “ nice-and-offbeat-not- normal ”!

…And, derived from the same basic root - a  “Meshiegenna”,  would have Been someone really off the rails, according to my maternal grandmother,      ‘ Ouma Flo '   , bless her.

…and a “mieshooguss” is a “quirk”…a quirk ?...

Yes!, a quirk:  …a not-so-conventional-to-average  societal-convention-or-limitation … in other words, a quirk is :-  ‘a-strange- behavioural-trait ’….

So, that too means that a “Meshiegenna”  is  meshugah..and thus can  have a mieshooguss!                       

                                                            

We all have some kind of  “mieshooguss”…a quirk…and mine is the notion that I should not allow myself the EXTRAVAGANCE, when Baking,  to make a Ginger cake using  A WHOLE CUP OF GOLDEN SYRUP !

The guilt ! , the unforgiving extravagance ! ..  it stems from my days of being young-and-gorgeous, a student living ABroad, when   “ The Mother “  would actually post via airmail, from Cape Town , to the other side of the world, such items as a whole 1kilogram tin of “Lyles’ Golden” (“corn”- )syrup ..and  *Marmite* ….and CadBury’s chocs,   that distance, Overseas, to us indulged kids, yearning for home ! ...and the  unavailable foods, familiar  to us !

And where did the  ‘mieshooguss’  come in? ...rations  ! , my dears… r-a-t-i-o-n-s!

We  made  that  tin of  Lyle’ s  Golden  syrup  l-a-ssss-t !

N-n-no ways could you waste a WHOLE cupful, on a recipe for 1 cake !   ...and to this day, even with tons of tins in that shopping aisle of  BloodyPack’nPiyClaremont supermarket,  ALWAYS  available for the buying… still, that pang of guilt comes to the fore !

I think twice before baking ‘ Ouma Flo ‘s   delectable old-fashioned ginger cake!

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm……….

And so to recipes…

                                         ‘ Ouma Flo ‘s

    ‘Old-fashioned Ginger cake’     

Mmmmmmmmm.......

Gosh!  When last did you savour the aroma’s wafting from your oven, of a classic ‘retro’  Ginger cake?... huh?   Just the very image in My Mind  , conjures up salivating thoughts! A thick slice smothered with lashings of butter!

I believe this was one of ‘ Ouma Flo ‘s  1950’s and 1960’s  staple kitchen standbys …

     An option of two Ginger cake Recipes…

Ginger“bread”  or  Ginger “cake”  -

…… “ c'est  la même chose ! ” 
 -   it is the same choice !

Before we begin to bake Ginger“bread”/cake,  here is an easy explanation from an elderly cookery journal…

Quote:  

 “ The dry ingredients are usually mixed together, and the fat (butter) and Golden Syrup (“corn syrup” in USA) , - or you can use Treacle -  are gently  warmed, before being added to the flour mixture, together with the eggs.

Golden Syrup, or the Treacle, play an important part in all gingerbread recipes, helping to give the characteristic texture, as does the soft-brown/ or treacle sugar, used to give it the rich colour.

‘Gingerbreads’ are usually baked in a square, straight-sided baking tin. The tin should be well greased, and lined with greased baking paper.”

  The Ultimate Old-fashioned
        Ginger cake…

GINGER CAKES
-FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN 

Ingredients: 

455g flour (3 ½  cups)

3 teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon cinnamon - (optional)

½ teaspoon Allspice(”Pimento”) - (optional)

¼ teaspoon ground cloves - (optional)

2 teaspoons baking powder (“baking soda” in USA)

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon salt

Plus the wet ingredients…

225g (1 ¼ cups) soft-brown sugar

175 g ( ¾ cup) butter

350g (just a little more than 1 cup) Syrup

1 cup milk (250 ml)

1 ‘jumbo’/or extra large egg

Method:  ( so easy! )

1) Preheat the oven to 175*C  (350*F)

2) Line the bottom & sides of a 22cm square baking tin – (or 2x 20cm to 22cm loaf tins), with greased and floured baking paper.

3) Mix together all dry ingredients

4) Gently warm the brown-sugar, syrup and butter till butter melts, and thus, syrup is quite runny.( I do so in a Pyrex jug on low heat in the microwave)

5) Slightly warm the milk, and add the beaten egg into it.

6) Combine all the ingredients - easy to stir the ingredients with a whisk, by hand !

7) Pour batter into prepared baking tin.

8) In a square tin : bake for 1hr 6 mins, and test to see the centre is firm to the touch,  or a further 5 to 10 minutes - depending on your pan.

9) If baking in 2x loaf tins…55 minutes should be perfect.

Note  - on oven setting “Fan” – baking should be a shorter time.

A LOAF OF AROMATIC
 GINGER CAKE

RICH&HEAVY, HEADY IN AROMAS
 - GINGER CAKE!

DO YOU RECOGNISE THE LITTLE GIRL?
... PERFECT FOR A MAD-HATTER'S TEA-PARTY!

‘COOKINGWIthma……

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….and you thought we were finished....not so !

          If you DON’T  want to use a WHOLE  CUP of syrup, then here is ‘ Ouma Flo’s    recipe for super Ginger cake too!

‘ Ouma Flo’s  Heartwarming  Ginger cake…

Ingredients:  (are similar)

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons ground ginger

¼ teaspoon Allspice

¼ teaspoon salt

Plus…

115g butter …(just a little more than ½ cup)

1 cup sugar

2 TABLEspoons  of Golden Syrup (or honey)

1 cup of lukewarm milk with 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda dissolved into it.

2 extra large eggs

Method  –  Easy: - the same as the previous recipe!

       

              Bake @ 175*C  for 1 hour in a square tin.

COULDN'T WAIT!
...JUST A LITTLE BITE!

‘till next time,

     ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’