Recipe Review: Dark Gingerbread Pear Cake

We recently linked to a gingerbread-pear cake in our daily Delicious Links, and lo and behold, we found ourselves with that very same cake in the oven a few nights later. We wanted, you see, to give you a personal opinion.

I have a Thing for gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies and gingerbread men – crispy, soft, and chewy – all kinds. Gingerbread lattes, gingerbread bread pudding – mmm, sometimes. But really what I love is gingerbread cake – especially of the dark, moist, nearly underbaked variety. (Nigella calls a slice of this sort of thing “a wodge,” I believe.)

So I take my gingerbread cake testing very seriously. I don’t pass up many opportunities to try gingerbread cake (Nigella’s fresh gingerbread with lemon icing is still a favorite; when it comes to gingerbread, the Brits know what they’re about).

This recipe comes from the October ’08 Gourmet via pretty food blog Caviar and Codfish. Her photos make it look dark, rich, and moist. It’s very simple, too – just a batter with dark molasses (we broke the recipe rules and used blackstrap molasses) and fresh ginger.

The verdict? Loved it. It’s dark and not very sweet at all, with chunks of mellow pear to balance the ginger spiciness. It is definitely good for breakfast as well as dessert, and comes highly recommended.

• Get the recipe: Dark Gingerbread Pear Cake at Gourmet

Related: Home-Baked Chocolate: Nigella’s Chocolate Gingerbread