I'm in Jamaica this week.
Just thinking about our trip last week, made me want to bake one of my favorite cakes—a Triple-Ginger Pound Cake. That's because most ginger comes from Jamaica.
Here are the three forms of ginger used in the cake: fresh gingerroot, crystallized ginger and ground ginger (powder).
My friends, Tom and Annie, helped me serve this cake to a large group of friends. Tom put scoops of vanilla ice cream on each slice of cake and Annie spooned the warm sauce over the ice cream.
Triple-Ginger Pound Cake
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Start to Finish: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups butter, softened (do not use margarine)
1 tablespoon grated fresh gingerroot
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
3 quarts Vanilla ice cream
Hot Buttered Rum Sauce
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 12-cup fluted tube cake pan or 10-inch angel food cake pan with baking spray with flour.
2. In medium bowl, mix flour, ground ginger, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, gingerroot, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. On low speed, beat in flour mixture alternately with milk. Fold in crystallized ginger until evenly mixed. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and top is dark golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen edges of cake with spatula;remove cake from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
Serve each slice of cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a couple of tablespoons of the Hot Buttered Rum Sauce.
24 servings
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Decrease butter to 1 cup; increase milk to 1 cup. In step 2, omit beating 5 minutes.
Hot Buttered Rum Sauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
¼ cup golden rum (coconut rum would be delicious too)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1. In 2-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter, salt and condensed milk to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching Cook until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in rum and vanilla. Serve warm with cake.
2 ½ cups sauce