Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread (with pears)

This week's selection for Tuesdays with Dorie is a dark, chocolately gingerbread. Many gingerbread recipes rely simply on powdered ginger and molasses for their spiciness, but this one calls for a handful of chopped fresh ginger as well. Dorie recommends adding some stem ginger in syrup or candied ginger but I decided to add some poached pear chunks instead, just for something different. I had saved the poaching liquid from the French Pear Tart, which quickly sweetened and softened a couple of pears.


Dorie's gingerbread incorporates chocolate in two forms - melted and chunked. I loved the chunks - ginger and chocolate are such a great combination. I skipped the chocolate frosting that she also recommends, as it just didn't seem necessary to me (and I was being lazy).

As for the cake itself, I found mine to be almost too molasses-y - it verged on a licorice flavor that was just a bit too strong for me, even though I like licorice. Mine also looks darker than Dorie's and some other bloggers'. I wonder if my organic molasses was too dark, perhaps. But nevertheless, I liked it and it was a hit with my taste-testers.


I made Dorie's ginger-infused whipped cream as well -it was fantastic! You just steep some fresh ginger into heavy cream, let it cool, then whip with some sugar. I have added maple syrup, vanilla beans and other flavors to whipped cream before but the ginger was so good. I can't wait to try it with pumpkin pie. I really think gingerbread calls for whipped cream - the cream provides a nice contrast to the spices and makes the whole experience much more divine than just a piece of spicy cake.


Thank you to Sherry of Sherry Trifle for choosing this week's recipe and reminding me how much I love gingerbread, especially when it's "mitt schlag." You can find the recipe on Sherry's blog.

I'd like to leave you with a recent picture of one of my kitties, Go Go Boots. I just love this picture (and its subject, too!).