Little Cake Molds

by Sheila Connolly

I'm sure I've said before that I love antiques fairs and yard sales and tag sales and all their ilk, because that's where I seem to get all my bakeware.  This month I went to the Brimfield Antique Show, the largest open-air event of its kind in the world, and it didn't disappoint. I came home with several treasures.  And for the first time, I actually haggled! (After learning from a cable TV show that I was supposed to, and that vendors expected it—I'm a slow learner.)

 

Remember those adorable little tartlet pans (also vintage) that I wrote about a while back?  Well, I discovered at Brimfield that they have big sisters, and of course I had to have them.  It's a mismatched set, all in good condition.  Now, what to do with them?

I believe that once upon a time, ladies who lunched made cute little cakes and served them as individual desserts, perhaps with some sliced fruit, a dab of whipped cream, and a mint leaf for garnish.  I decided that's what I'm going for—a basic pound-cake type recipe that's easy to make, and can be baked ahead and prettied up for serving.

 

Plain pound cake can be pretty blah (more vanilla!), so I added some ginger.  You might serve these with some fresh pears, in season now—there's a vendor at the Plymouth Farmers' Market who makes a Ginger Pear Jelly that I am addicted to.  It's a good combination.

 

GINGER CUPCAKE TARTS

 

½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1¼ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

(if you feel daring, you can add some candied ginger, chopped fine and dusted with flour so the bits don't sink during baking)

 

Cream the butter and add the sugar gradually.

 

Beat the eggs until thick and lemon-colored. Sift together the dry ingredients.  Add the eggs and the dry ingredients alternately to the butter-sugar mixture.

 

Grease your molds (a cooking spray works well for this).  Fill each mold with about a quarter-cup each (this will depend on the size of your mold; you don't need to smooth them out).  Place the filled molds on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

 

Let sit in the molds for a few minutes until they come out easily. Unmold and let cool on a rack. Once cool, place them in an sealed container to keep them moist.

When the ladies are assembled for lunch, garnish and serve!



My first standalone ebook, Once
She Knew, has been in the Nook
Mystery Top Ten most of this
week, and in the top 100 among all
Nook books.  It will be released in
other e-formats on October 3 (no,
there are no recipes--my protagonists
barely have time to eat!)