Failed Ginger Cake and Brownies

My baking karma has been on a decline. On Saturday I baked ginger cake for a birthday party from this recipe. The only good part about that cake was the cream cheese frosting.



The cake was dry. The chopped ginger added weird grainy/stringy texture. And worst of all it wasn't even gingery.



If it's not my baking karma, it could be that my powder ginger is way too old that it has lost its chi. Or that I overbaked the cake (I baked the cake in two 9 inch cake pans for 30 minutes.) Or that I left the cake out for too long (20 hours uncovered) before frosting.



I might have solved all these dry-non-gingery-cake problems, had I trusted my instinct to make a ginger syrup to soak the cake.

To make the matters worse, I decided to bake brownies for Valentines. I went with this recipe because I have an old box of unsweetened chocolate (first mistake.) And then I decided not to follow the recipe at all because I don't have a microwave to melt the chocolate and I didn't have enough butter (HUGE mistake.)



The brownies, although looking very pretty cut out with my heart cookie cutter, were dry, crumbly and not very chocolaty. I'm trying to decide whether I should damage control by stopping baking for now. Cutting my lost by just throw away the rest of the brownies. Or whether I should not waste the dry brownies and improvise chocolate pudding out of them (and very possibly post another failed baking attempt for your amusement.)



Maybe the Universe is trying to tell me something. How do one increase one's baking karma?

Ginger Blackberry Apple Cobbler

I wanted to add more fruit to my diet. The only fruit I have been eating are oranges and those little mandarin oranges. Can't wait for the summer when berries and stone fruit are seasonal again. For now, I'll use frozen fruit and apples. To make it not so boring I added fresh and ground ginger. I worked out pretty well once the initial shock to the spice subsided.



Ingredients

• 4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced


• 1 pound frozen blackberries


• About 2 inch knob of ginger - peeled and chopped


• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour


• 1/4 cup Agave nectar


• 1 egg


• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil


• 3/4 cup plain yogurt


• 1/4 cup brown sugar


• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar


• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.


2. In a large bowl, toss apples, blackberries, chopped ginger, 1 tablespoon flour and Agave nectar together. Pour into a 2.2 Qt. or larger baking dish.


3. Whisk egg, oil, yogurt and brown sugar in a clean bowl until well combined.


4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into the wet ingredients. Stir until well blended


5. Spoon the batter over the fruit. Combine granulated sugar with ground ginger and sprinkle over the batter.


6. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool about 10 to 20 minutes before serving.

Zucchini Ginger Muffins

I'm on a roll with muffins. Still the same favourite basic recipe. Just added a teaspoon of ginger powder, a cup of grated zucchini and a cup of chopped candy ginger.



Breakfast of champion.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 cup wholewheat flour
• 
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon ginger powder


• 1/3 cup extra light tasting olive oil or canola oil


• 1/3 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 cup non-fat plain yogurt


• 1 cup grated zucchini


• 1 cup chopped candied ginger

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with liners.

1. Combine all purpose flour, wholewheat flour, baking soda, salt and ginger powder in a small bowl.


2. In a large bowl, whisk oil and sugar together. Add eggs and yogurt. Beat until will blended.


3. Gently stir in flour mixture until just combined. Gently fold in zucchini and chopped ginger.


4. Drop by tablespoonful into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

These muffins are good although they are not my favourite. I had extra grate zucchini leftover from zucchini brownies and found candied ginger in my cabinet. So I decided to make these. It's a good idea but I think the sugar in ginger is a little too much for muffins.

Lemon Ginger Thyme Muffins

I had this recipe bookmarked since last October. Never got a chance to make it since I've never seen thyme in my local supermarket. Yesterday, I was at the farmers market at Prospect Park. Had $20 with me. Spent it all buying strawberries, sugar snap peas, apples, spinach, and thyme!

Original recipe is from Dannon Yogurt website. I changed things a bit: buttermilk instead of yogurt, more fresh ginger, and half wholewheat flour instead of all purpose flour.

These muffins came out delicious. I'm liking thyme in my baked goods. I'll have to look for more thyme recipes.



Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 cup wholewheat flour


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 teaspoon ground ginger


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 cup canola oil


• 1 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger


• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme


• lemon zest from 1 lemon


• 1 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners.


2. Whisk together all purpose flour, wholewheat flour, baking soda, ground ginger and salt in a medium bowl.


3. With electric mixer, beat oil and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition.


4. Stir in flour mixture and buttermilk into the wet ingredients alternately in 3 batches. Stir until just combined.


5. Fold in ginger, thyme, lemon zest and raisins.


6. Drop by tablespoon into muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes. Make 12 muffins.