Molasses Ginger Cake

I used 1 T grated fresh ginger and 1T ground. Excellent

I agree with others who say the cake has amazing flavor but is in need of moisture. It’s too dry to fully enjoy the excellent combination of pepper, molasses, etc.

this was a dry, horrible disaster...it was like eating a ginger bread man not a cake at all...so dry and unrewarding.....

This was delicious. What seems like a lot of ginger is not too much, and the pepper gives a nice tingle, also. The dense cake is best warm, and even after a couple of days, just microwaving a slice on a plate for 15 seconds worked great and makes a real difference.

- Replaced melted butter with olive oil with good, more moist results. - Used 2 tbsp of freshly minced ginger instead of ground for a nice kick. - Used 1 tsp of a mix of ground white & black peppercorns for the perfect spiciness. - Substituted homemade candied orange peel for golden raisins. Nice cake to induce warmth with its spices, in which a dollop of cream to counterbalance is deliciously crucial.

Used nutmeg instead of cinnamon, by preference, and ordinary raisins which I wish now I had soaked in Drambuie or similar. Possibly overdid the black treacle (molasses) as I did a conversion to grams, so ended up with an extra 10-15 minutes baking time, but it came out not too dry. Enjoyable warm with crème fraiche.

Loved, LOVED this cake. Made as-is and can’t get enough of it. Paired it with freshly whipped cream and have been enjoying leftovers for breakfast! The density of this was perfection and the black pepper gave it such a fabulous kick. If spicy and dense is your thing, make this and enjoy!

First time baking anything from NYT cooking without looking at the "Notes" first. Glad I tried it in a loaf pan, turned out as expected, slope and all. Only added an extra egg because of their smaller size, and did the baking soda and vinegar trick in lieu of baking powder. Otherwise definitely a keeper for the days you want something different.

Delicious. Better than most fruitcakes. I added one quarter cup chopped crystallilzed ginger and kept everything else the same. It worked well.

Delicious! Very warming because of the spices. I baked it for 35 minutes on convection and it was a tad dry. The whipping cream was essential!

I wanted to like this. Made his lamb recipe and carrot salad. Both were excellent. However the cake was not good. Way to dry to be enjoyable. Going to make the one suggested by other reviewer adapted from Edna Lewis.

This needs to cook for an hour. Or, since the raisins are golden, you could maintain the color contrast by substituting dark raisins for the dates. Or, you could switch up the flavors and substitute dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots for the dates. Or forget the raisins and use all cranberries or all apricots or a combination of any of the above. All these fruits complement molasses and ginger wonderfully.

I made this last night to compliment an Indian food dinner for a small party. I followed the recipe to the T. The cake is dense, but perfect after a dinner of curries, accompanied by a fruit salad. I wouldn’t change a thing. By the way, 40 minutes was fine for my oven.

I made as prescribed except I added one half cup of roasted pistachios which really worked. A good recipe as is but the ginger and pepper was TOO much. Ginger has a peppery taste as is so I would use half the pepper and ginger amounts. The cake was pulled at 38 minutes and it was slightly dry and dense but a texture that I like.

We have now made this twice - once strictly as written and once substituting grains of paradise (happiest spice shopping accident ever!) for the black pepper. Both were great, and there is now a push on to try it with a mix of the two. This thing may be a threat to David Leibovitz’ east-west ginger cake long standing dominance around here!