Thursday night I made a "fresh ginger cake" from The Joy of Cooking. I have a great relationship with The Joy of Cooking. The strangest (and most beautiful) thing I ever cooked from it was a grape pie, which can be credited to Matt Blake*. Matt Blake once cooked a banana pie.
The cake turned out deliciously. (Although I let it cool more than the recommended 10 min, and it still fell apart when flipped!)
The truth is that this cake is a molasses ginger cake. Lauren and I did some reading about molasses to understand it better. Look what I learned:
In 1919 there was a molasses FLOOD in Boston, because a tank holding molasses for alcohol exploded. !
People actually died because of a 35mph wave of molasses. "It was like any horrible disaster scene, with the addition that everything was covered in smelly sticky brown molasses."
On a better note, I have a 78 that I love with The Andrews Sisters singing a great 1950's song called "Molasses Molasses"
"I went to see my sweetie just the other day.
She had supper ready; wanted me to stay.
She didn't have no 'taters; didn't have no meat.
Just a big black jug of molasses was all she had to eat.
'Cause she likes molasses, good ol' country sorghum.
She eats 'em in the summer and the fall.
When they trickle down my chin, I let her lick 'em off again;
That's the way I like 'em best of all!
Molasses, Molasses, That icky sticky goo
Molasses, Molasses, It always sticks to you . . ."
*Matt Blake, where is your internet presence?
