As I’ve settled into my routine again at home in Maine, I’ve been missing the farmers market. Every Thursday during the summer I would hop in the car and buy chocolate croissants. Fresh produce. Bread. Homemade sausages. It really helped my mental health and gave me something to look forward to. Thursday afternoons were spent baking and cooking, listening to podcasts, and eating lunch outside in the sun. So, this week I trekked to my favorite grocery store, about a 25 minute drive from home, with the goal of making something festive. I’ve been craving gingerbread, so I decided to create mini ginger cakes with a lemon glaze.

Mini Ginger Cakes at Farm Stands

Years ago when I was in high school and college I would visit the farmers market in town each summer with my mom and grandmother. There used to be fresh pizza dough from a bread company. A homemade cheese stand. And a beautiful bakery run out of a home kitchen by a woman named Beryl. She was a kind older woman who made the best humble pastries. She would change flavors and offerings on a whim, but she always made mini ginger cakes. My mom was obsessed with them, and my grandmother and I would buy them nearly every week.

They were individual mini ginger cakes baked in bakery style muffin wrappers. But they were shaped more like a tall teacake. They were rich and deeply spiced with a dark molasses color. When I lived in Portland, my favorite bakery was a European style place near the pier. It would feel like winning the lottery when they had a parking space in their cramped, city spaces. They always had beautiful plants and flowers outside of the entrance. It could have been anywhere – a beautiful brick facade with a tantalizing scent of fresh bread. People flowing in and out like a river.

Thinking of Gingerbread Recipes

The pastry case was filled with French pastries that I’d never heard of. Palmiers. Financiers. Teacakes. The first time I went I noticed mini ginger cakes with candied ginger and lemon glaze. I bought two, one for me and one for my mom to have when I visited on the weekends. The candied ginger on top added a tang and a pop of spice and sugar. The lemon glaze accentuates the spices with a pleasant acidic tang. It’s dark, rich, and decadent with a light and fresh topping. I miss living close to that bakery and often fantasize about moving back into a cozy apartment over a restaurant and working as a bread baker.

So, these visions of mini ginger cakes from years past filled my head as I drove the wooded back streets to the grocery store. I thought of the gingerbread from my favorite cookbook, Flour, which is soaked with a coffee glaze. I thought of the gingerbread Swiss roll I made for Christmas one year, with chocolate mousse filling. There were many options of clever new gingerbread recipes I could make. Gingerbread biscotti with chocolate. Ginger molasses cookies, or lemon ginger shortbread. I thought of making a gingerbread layer cake with chocolate ganache, or lemon frosting. Ultimately, I felt loyal to the mini ginger cakes with lemon.

A Trip to the Grocery Store

I perused the store for a bit, wearing my winter coat and boots through the isles. I picked up Kale for a soup recipe, a softball-sized onion, and I picked out a couple big organic lemons. The bakery was filled with fresh chocolate cookies and bread. I studied the fresh local cheeses and the freezer section of handmade empanadas and pizzas. I took my time and listened to the Christmas music playing on the speakers. When I checked out, I emerged back into the frigid Maine air and stopped in an idyllic town on the way home.

I couldn’t wait to make this recipe. I started by digging ramekins out of a cupboard and placing them on a baking sheet. After greasing them with butter, I got out all of my ingredients to make things easier for myself. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg. Flour, sugar, molasses. The first thing I did was measure my dry ingredients into a sifter over a metal bowl. Then, I heated up butter in a saucepan until it began to brown. I like to infuse brown butter with fresh ginger when I make ginger cookies or gingerbread. You can also put in your spices to wake them up a bit. In another bowl I whisked my eggs with brown sugar until it whipped up into a fluffy light brown batter.

Baking Mini Ginger Cakes

Next I measured my molasses into a bowl and added baking soda. This is one of my favorite things to do. When you mix baking soda with the sticky, thick, molasses, and you pour hot water on top, it immediately bubbles into a beautiful amber-brown potion. It removes all of the stickiness from the syrup and allows you to easily incorporate it into a cake batter. It’s so satisfying. Instead of pouring on hot water, I decided to make espresso. Which only deepened the flavor and color of the molasses mixture. Then, I added my brown butter mixture and placed my three bowls on the counter in an assembly line.

I alternated adding the dry ingredients and wet molasses mixture to the bowl of eggs and brown sugar. The viscosity of the gingerbread batter fluctuates between stiff gingerbread and thin cake batter until finally, when each mixture has been fully incorporated, you end up with a luscious, velvety reddish-brown batter. Filled with the scent of fall spices and rich molasses. The coffee added a dark caramelized essence that accentuated the other flavors. I tasted a little bit with a spoon.

Candying Lemons

I carefully poured my cake batter into my ramekins and popped them into the hot oven. 25 minutes on the timer. The cakes rose and formed domes over the white dishes. I basked in a cloud of ginger and spices as I opened the oven to check them. They almost sprang back fully when pressed, so I let them cook for a few more minutes. Then, I popped them onto a cutting board and let them cool. I wrestled with the hot cups after loosening the cakes with a knife, burning my fingers a little. I let the cakes cool as I whipped up a quick lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze.

While the cakes were still warm, I poured my lemon glaze over the tops to soak a little bit of the flavor into the warm crumb. Then, I focused my attention on making the candied lemon slices to garnish the cakes. All you do is make a simple syrup in a pan, equal parts water and sugar. I cooked it until it boiled, then turned down the heat and added thin slices of lemon. I cooked them for about 30 minutes total, flipping once halfway through. Then, I used my favorite cooking tweezers to place them on parchment paper so the sugar shell could harden and cool.

Taste Test

I couldn’t wait to put the finishing touch on my mini ginger cakes and lifted my candied lemon slices onto each cake top. They were still a little warm, so I took a big bite out of one and finished my photographs. They taste so rich and so flavorful. If you’ve never had gingerbread, it should have the texture of a great loaf cake or layer cake, with a little more bounce. The flavor is ripe with spices and permeated with fresh ginger and molasses. It tickles your palate a little, which is the sign that you’ve pushed the limit of spices right to the edge. After the spice and velvety cake, you taste the tangy lemon glaze. It complements the spices so well. The candied lemon slice lifts the flavor even further, making this rich spice cake more fresh and summery and easy to eat.

As I mentioned, gingerbread is one of my favorite things this time of year. The woman at the farmers market has now retired to Hawaii. The bakery in Portland hasn’t seen me in years. But, I was so excited to develop my own recipe that I can share with my mom any time. We had a hard week and went to a funeral service on Thursday. So, I’m looking forward to sharing them with her Sunday and having a day to spend time together. We’ll take a walk in the cold if it doesn’t snow and watch TV in front of the Christmas tree. And for a moment, everything will feel just fine.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recipes and paintings, be sure to check out Etsy for 25% off my art prints and recipe cards. Use code THEFORKEDRING. See you next Sunday!

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Mini Ginger Cakes with Candied Lemon Glaze

A rich, spicy gingerbread baked in a ramekin, topped with lemon glaze

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate cake, gingerbread, lemon bars

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 cups AP flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground clove
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp grated ginger
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup hot coffee
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 whole lemon
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until fluffy.
• In a sifter over a medium bowl, measure flour, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground nutmeg.
• In a pan or pot, melt butter over medium-high heat until bubbly and golden brown. Add your fresh grated ginger and stir to combine. Remove from heat.
• In a heat-proof bowl, measure molasses and baking soda. Add hot, nearly boiling coffee and whisk to combine.
• Add your brown butter and ginger mixture to the hot molasses mixture and combine.
• Alternate adding your sifted dry ingredients and your molasses / butter mixture to your eggs and brown sugar. Add 1/3 of each at a time and fold with a spatula.
• Grease 6 ramekins with butter and place on a baking sheet. Fill each ramekin 1/2 – 2/3 of the way full with your gingerbread cake batter.
• Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until cake tops spring back when pressed. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before running a knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen them. Remove from ramekins carefully.
• In another bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Your glaze should be slightly on the runny side.
• On a wire rack over a plastic-wrap-lined pan, pour your glaze over the warm cakes to coat the tops evenly.
• Slice your lemon in thin, 1/8" rings. Remove seeds.
• In a deep sauté-pan, heat water and white sugar over medium-high heat. Stir once to combine and then don’t disturb.
• Once the sugar mixture begins to boil rapidly, turn heat down to a gentle simmer and add your lemon slices. Cook for 25-30 minutes total, flipping to coat each side.
• Carefully remove your lemon slices and place on a parchment or silicon-lined baking sheet. Let cool for 30 minutes – 1 hour before garnishing each ginger cake with a candied lemon slice.