Triple Ginger Skillet Cake #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

If you’ve read my Haunted Yarn Shop mysteries, you might remember that the ghost, Geneva, loves the smell of ginger. I do, too. Anytime I use ginger in a savory or a sweet recipe, I think of Geneva floating nearby. I made this cake one recent blustery afternoon. The kitchen warmed right up and the whole house smelled like Geneva’s idea of heaven. She would like the idea of baking it in a cast iron skillet, too.

If you don’t have a 12-inch cast iron skillet, don’t worry. Any non-stick skillet or baking pan will do. The cast iron gives the cake a nicely caramelized bottom, but no one will miss that after they take their first bite no matter what kind of pan you use.

 

Triple Ginger Skillet Cake

Adapted from Erin Jeanne McDowell in The New York Times

Serves 12-16

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the skillet

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup molasses

About 2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled

1 large egg

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup diced crystallized ginger

1-2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar to sprinkle over the top before baking

 

Directions

Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-inch oven-safe skillet with unsalted butter.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), cream the 1/2 cup of room temperature butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, and then, using a fine grater, grate the fresh ginger into the bowl. Mix until combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the egg and mix well again.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine.

Stir in the milk then add the remaining flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Fold in the crystallized ginger.

Pour the batter into the prepared skillet. Spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the surface with turbinado sugar. Bake until a toothpick, when stuck in the center, comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cake is great on its own, but if you want to jazz it up, try sprinkling it with powdered sugar or serve it with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, custard sauce, or lemons curd. Here's Leslie Karst's recipe for lemon curd.

  

💖 Click here for a free, printable pdf of the recipe  💖

 

It’s the time of year to curl up with a trio of warm cozies – a drink, a treat, and a good book. May I suggest a bit of armchair travel, too? 

Visit Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, in the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries.

 

Or travel to the Scottish Highlands in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries.

 

Spend time in northeast Tennessee in the Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, two stand-alone mysteries, and a collection of short stories.

 

Or travel from Cape Cod on the east coast to Monterey on the west coast, with a stop in Ohio along the way in my very gentle mysteries written as Margaret Welch.

 

Happy reading!

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Instagram or Bluesky.

 

Sunshine Citrus Cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

 Libby Klein Sometimes I just get in the mood to be fancy. Plus I love anything lemon. And I didn't know what the heck to do with these kumquats I bought because I wanted to try them. In case you're wondering - the peel outside is sweet and the inside is tart. They're really good on the cake because the frosting is sweet. I filled the layers with lemon curd so I knew there was danger of sweet overload. That's why I cut the sugar in my frosting. I love my sweets, but I tend to have a low threshold for just how sweet they can be. Let me know if you make this and what you think about the combination.

Disclaimer - Read all your labels to make sure your ingredients are gluten-free. Gluten can be sneaky.

Gluten-Free Sunshine Citrus Cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting

Serves: 12 

Ingredients

Lemon Curd
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp Lemon zest 
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2–3 lemons)
¼ cup unsalted butter

 

Cake

1 and 3/4 cups one-to-one gluten-free flour blend* 
*1 tsp xanthan gum if not already in your flour
- - - Or just use 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour if you aren’t gluten-free
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons citrus zest combination of lemon, orange, and lime 
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup freshly squeezed citrus juice combination of lemon, orange, and lime

Try not to notice the sour cream in the picture. I decided not to use it.

Instructions

Make the lemon curd: Whisk all the ingredients together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir continuously over low to medium heat until the curd is thick enough to cling to a spoon. This will take about 6-8 minutes.

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 6-inch round cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans or line them with parchment paper. 

Whisk the flour, xanthan gum if you’re using it, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the citrus zest. Beat on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.

Add half of the flour mixture, followed by half of the milk, and then half of the citrus juice. Beat on low speed until mostly combined, and then add the remaining flour mixture, milk, and citrus juice. Beat on low speed until combined.

Divide and pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake cakes for 18-21 minutes or until browned and springy. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

Allow cakes to cool for ten minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Mascarpone Frosting. Recipe Follows.

Top the first cake layer with a thick layer of lemon curd. Add the second cake. Repeat the process with that layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting.

Store the cake in the refrigerator.

Orange Mascarpone Frosting

Ingredients

16 oz Mascarpone Cheese
Zest of 1 orange
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon orange juice or orange liqueur like Grand Marnier 

Whip the cheese and orange zest with your mixer until combined and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined. Taste your frosting after the third cup. If you think it’s sweet enough and still thick and fluffy, stop there. If not, add the rest of the powdered sugar. Add the orange juice or liqueur and mix well. 

I finished the cake with lemon and lime slices and kumquats. It would be perfect for cold winter days or any event where you want a sure winner.

Recipe inspiration from Sally’s Baking Addiction

 

“Haunted houses, bickering spouses, and murder mix in this Halloween treat… Suspects and motives abound in this laugh-out-loud mystery.” Kirkus Reviews

Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .

While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . .

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Microwave Lemon Curd #Recipe by Leslie Karst

I think the first time I tasted lemon curd was in England in 1972, when my family was living in Oxford the year my father was on sabbatical. The name is a bit of a turn-off, I admit. But when you learn what its ingredients are—egg yolks, lemon juice, sugar, and butter—it becomes easy to just overlook the “curd” bit.

As soon as I tried it I was addicted. The rich, custardy texture along with the tartness of the lemons makes for the perfect spread for buttered toast. But it’s not cheap, so I don’t tend to keep it on hand on a daily basis. When a friend gave me a big bag of Myer lemons from her tree, however, I decided to try making a batch of my own. I'd recently been given a recipe for lemon curd that you make in the microwave, and here was my chance to try it out. It’s remarkably simple.

an equal number of egg yolks and lemons goes into the curd

 

Microwave Lemon Curd
(yield: about 1 cup)

½ cup sugar
4 egg yolks
½ cup lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
2 oz. (½ stick) salted butter, cut into pieces

(I doubled the recipe, which makes enough for a 10-inch pie or tart.)

First, separate the eggs (only the yolks are used in lemon curd, but you can save the whites for a meringue or to add into a fluffy omelette).


Next, juice your lemons:


Here are all the ingredients you’ll need:


Beat the egg yolks with a wire whisk, and then beat in the sugar until it’s well-incorporated (use a large, microwave-proof bowl):


Next, pour in the lemon juice and mix well. It will look something like this:


Put the bowl in the microwave,


and cook on high at 30 second intervals, whisking the curd in between each one:


And as I said before, be sure to use a large bowl, with lots of room for the lemon curd to expand as it boils, or it will overflow, as mine did about half-way through the process:


For the amounts given in this recipe, it should take about 4-5 minutes. I doubled the recipe, however, and it took 11 minutes. (The time will vary, depending on the power of your microwave oven.) You’ll know it’s done when it becomes thick and custardy, with lots of bubbles, and it starts to turn a golden color. Here’s what mine looked like when I stopped cooking it:


Finish it off by whisking in the butter, and stirring until it’s completely melted and incorporated:


Since I was using unsalted butter, I added a little salt at the end:


Let it cool a bit, then pour into jars. Once cool, refrigerate until thickened--several hours or overnight.

I was worried that the curd wouldn’t set up, since it seemed a little thin, even after I’d let it cool for a few minutes in the refrigerator. But the next morning when I took it out of the fridge to spread on my toast, I was thrilled to see that it had set up to the perfect consistency:


I can’t think of a better breakfast:

🍋  🌿  🐄

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari Mysteries, a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. 

 

An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

Leslie’s website
Leslie also blogs with Chicks on the Case
Leslie on Facebook
Leslie on Twitter
Leslie on Instagram

 

WHAT A DEAL! For the entire month of January, Leslie's two Lefty Award-nominated books, MURDER FROM SCRATCH and DEATH AL FRESCO are Kindle Deals of the Month, on sale for only $1.99! Wow! 

Praise for Leslie's most recent Sally Solari mystery, the Lefty Award-nominated MURDER FROM SCRATCH:

“Karst seasons her writing with an accurate insider’s view of restaurant operation, as well as a tenderness in the way she treats family, death and Sally’s reactions to Evelyn’s blindness.”

Ellery Queen Magazine (featured pick)

All four Sally Solari Mysteries are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.

 

Lemon meringue tiramisu

Something to celebrate from Victoria Abbott (aka Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini)

We were looking something special to make for Easter, something pretty and not too challenging. Something with NO FLOUR! Something with eggs, of course, and bright spring color: yellow, for sure.

We've been thinking about tiramisu a lot lately and thought about a lemon variation. We put it together using layers of our favorite flavors. You could certainly experiment and make it your own. 

There are three steps plus assembly to this Lemon Meringue Tiramisu, but it’s all easy stuff. Plus at the end, you’ll have a recipe for meringue, one for lemon curd and one for the whole shebang. A bargain, we think. 

LEMON MERINGUE TIRAMISU

You will need to make one recipe of meringue, one recipe lemon curd and one recipe Mascarpone cream. 

FOR THE MERINGUE

This is the meringue MJ and Victoria both remember, one of MJ’s mum’s recipes.It was always made as meringue 'kisses'.  It’s very easy, as long as your eggs are at room temperature and there’s not a speck of anything greasy near bowl or beaters and that means not a drop of yolk.

Preheat oven to 225 F.

4 egg whites (from extra large eggs, at room temperature)

1 cup minus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tsp good quality vanilla

½ tsp almond extract (optional because we ran out!)

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Beat the egg white with cream of tartar until soft peaks form.  Add vanilla and almond.  Slowly add sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, beating well after every addition, until stiff peaks have formed.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop out meringue and shape into discs or little bowls or twist into meringue kisses, depending on what you want to do with it.  We wanted them fairly flat to build our tiramisu.

Bake at 225 for twenty to thirty minutes.  Don’t let them brown at the edges. If your oven runs hot, reduce temperature. 

FOR THE LEMON CURD (makes about 1 2/3 cups)

3 medium or 2 large lemons (juice and zest) 

³⁄₄ cups granulated sugar

2 extra large eggs, at room temperature

¹⁄₂ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Finely grate enough zest from lemons to measure about a tablespoon. Make sure you don't get the bitter white part. Squeeze lemons to produce 1/2 cup juice.

In a metal or tempered glass bowl whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs.

Add the butter cubes to mixture. 

Set bowl over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water and cook mixture, whisking frequently, until thickened, smooth and glossy, about 20 minutes. Don’t let the water boil, keep to a simmer. 

That's it.  Just a little patience. Confession time:  MJ watched an episode of New Tricks while squeezing, zesting and stirring.  

The lemon curd will keep covered in the fridge about three days. 

Serve lemon curd warm or chilled, but of course, we are using it in our tiramisu.

MASCARPONE CREAM FILLING

1 cup Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 ¼ cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon Limoncello, optional. We opted not to. 

We did not include sugar in the cream segment because the meringues and the lemon curd both have a lot.  But, suit yourself and your sweet tooth.

Whip the Mascarpone and cream (and maybe Limoncello) together until creamy and smooth.

Some assembly required

Place a disc of meringue in the bottom of each of six pretty, transparent serving dishes or glasses.

 It’s quite rich, so you may decide to go with small glasses or dishes. We didn’t. Ahem.  Layer on about half the meringue.  Layer on half the cream mixture.  Add a second disc.  Repeat with lemon curd and cream. This didn't lend itself to being photographed for some reason.

Crumble any remaining meringues and sprinkle on top.

Cover and refrigerate at least overnight. We added a strawberry to the top of ours. You'll have your own ideas.  Serve with verve!

Happy Easter!  

Victoria Abbott is the mysterious collaboration between the artist and photographer Victoria Maffini and her mother, the mystery writer, Mary Jane Maffini.  Normally they're quite sensible but there's a lot of treats around Easter and well, you know ...

v

That's us! Strangely enough, our three book collector mysteries, The Christie Curse, The Sayers Swindle and The Wolfe Widow all contain lots of desserts and celebrations and a certain amount of silly head gear.

 By the way, we're still celebrating this cover for The Marsh Madness. We think it looks good enough to eat.

The Marsh Madness is due out in September 2015.

BUT

YOU CAN PRE-ORDER IT HERE!

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