Gingerbread on a rainy day

Monday was cool, overcast and rainy here in Philadelphia. I know that some people hate that kind of weather, especially in summer, but over a decade of living in the Pacific Northwest during my formative years left me conditioned to think of it as cozy and comforting. It just so happens that I've been re-reading Laurie Colwin's book Home Cooking over the last few days, which is the perfect accompaniment to cozy weather.

Towards the end of the book she has an essay entitled How to Make Gingerbread. I finished it right around dinnertime, and being that I had nearly all the ingredients necessary (I didn't have buttermilk, but I followed her tip to stir a little yogurt into milk) I figured fate was telling me to whip up a batch. It turned out well, except that for that fact that I made a very poor choice in pans and so had some overflow that accumulated on the already dirty bottom of my oven. Despite that minor disaster, it turned out well and has left my apartment smelling of warm spices and the coming of fall.

Laurie's recipe is after the jump.

photo by Marisa McClellan Laurie Colwin's Gingerbread (all parenthetical notes belong to Colwin)

1. Cream one stick of sweet butter with 1/2 cup of light or dark brown sugar. Beat until fluffy and add 1/2 cup of molasses.
2. Beat in two eggs.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and one very generous tablespoon of ground ginger (this can be adjusted to taste, but I like it very gingery). Add one teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice.
4. Add two teaspoons of lemon brandy. If you don't have any, use plain vanilla extract. Lemon extract will not do. Then add 1/2 cup of buttermilk (or milk with a little yogurt beaten into it) and turn batter into a butttered tin.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for between twenty and thirty minutes (check after twenty minutes have passed). Test with a broom straw and cool on a rack.

Marisa's notes here: I used a fairly shallow 9 inch round cake pan and had a mess all over my oven. I think next time, I will use a deeper, square 9 x 9 pan. Also, in my oven, which runs fairly true to temperature, this cake took nearly an hour to bake. I don't know if that had something to do with my choice in baking vessel, but don't be discouraged if it takes far longer than her instructions indicate.