BBQ70/17: Dark Molasses Gingerbread Cake

BBQ70/17: Dark Molasses Gingerbread Cake:

I have cooked a couple of deserts on the BBQ recently and really enjoyed it: BBQ59/17: Nutella stuffed chocolate cookie and BBQ53/17: Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie

Whilst re-reading the Hang Fire cookbook (for the 100th time!) I spotted a recipe at the back for Dark Molasses Gingerbread Cake. It looked so good I fancied giving it a try!

You need 2x 22cm springform cake tins. I only had 1x 23cm tin so ordered another from Amazon.

The plan was to cook the cakes on the BBQ after the rib of beef came off and hopefully as the temperature had dropped and settled around 180c.

I melted unsalted butter in a pan then added soft light brown sugar and blackstrap molasses before leaving them to cool.

I then took a large bowl and mixed plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and espresso powder.

Going back to the pan with molasses, sugar and butter in I added vanilla, eggs and milk – whisking them until combined before pouring in to the dry ingredients and whisking thoroughly.

I greased both cake tins with butter then split the mixture between the two. The BBQ was around 180c so I took 2x tin trays and put them on the indirect heat zone upside down and placed the cake tins on top. I spotted this on The One Show last week during a Grillstock segment with Jonny BBQ from Bullet Brothers BBQ team. It’s a good tip as it should stop the cake from getting burnt on the bottom. Even though these were cooking away from the heat the grill would still heat up so this should save those bottoms.

gingerbread cake

gingerbread cake

gingerbread cake

gingerbread cake

Whilst the cake was cooking I made the icing by whipping cream cheese in a bowl then whisking flour, sugar and salt in a pan slowly, adding milk until boiling then simmering the mix whilst whisking until a thick paste forms at which point you scrape it into a bowl and slowly add the cream cheese mix whilst still whisking. I put this mix in the fridge to set a bit and kept an eye on the cake.

The recipe says it will take around 45 to 50 minutes so I had a look every 10 minutes. At 40 minutes they were looking pretty close (BBQ heat had been a bit higher) so I checked the centre with a cake probe and it came out clear so I took them out to cool. After half an hour I took them out the tins and left them on a wire rack. They stuck a bit to the bottoms so I had to put a plate on top, flip it over, wiggle a spatula underneath then put another plate on and spin it back the right way!

I took one cake and spread the icing mix on top before placing the other cake on top and icing the top of that one. I did the best I could with the palette knife I had but I don’t think I have iced a cake before! It’s not bad for a first attempt!

gingerbread cake

This is the not so neat side where the icing is oozing out the back. The icing is really tasty!

gingerbread cake

We had a couple of slices straight away which might have been a mistake as the icing was still a bit liquid so some oozed down the middle of the cake. The cake did taste very, very nice mind! It’s like a moist gingerbread cake you had as a kid but with a bit of spice from the ginger and a nice taste from the coffee and molasses.

I left it in the fridge overnight and it was firmer next morning. I used a standard dinner knife to slice it which made a bit of a mess!

gingerbread cake

gingerbread cake

gingerbread cake

 

gingerbread cake

3 days on the cake is still tasting fantastic. I think it’s dried slightly from being exposed in the fridge so what I would do next time is put the icing on then leave it in the fridge overnight then transfer to a cake tin.

Great cake, sounds like a lot of work but it’s not really. I really recommend it and it’s been very popular in our house!

The recipe is online here but I would also buy the book as it’s packed with fantastic bbq recipes.

 


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