Ginger Cake recipe easy / Ginger Bread

Ginger Bread Recipe With Condensed Milk

I love ❤ cakes since childhood. I was always crazy for them. My mom used to have a small electric oven in which she used to bake cakes and biscuits. I used to eat up almost half of the cake that she used to prepare. She never used to prefer the store bought cakes for special occasions. She often used to bake a cake for us. Me and my brothers loved to cut the homemade cake and enjoy it with our friends. Somehow,
after marriage I never dared to bake a cake at home. So whenever I used to go out for lunch or dinner, I used to order a lovely little cake or pastry since I did not know how to bake one at home. I always wanted to learn baking cakes. After a few initial attempts I finally succeeded in most of my attempts. Some of my successes are pumpkin cake with wheat flour and banana chocolate cake with wheat flour. Other successes are on their to be posted. So please be tuned to this site. 

Today 's recipe is an experiment that I did in my kitchen. The idea has been taken from milkmaid site and the recipe was adapted to suit my family 's taste. I actually had some homemade condensed milk which I wanted to use for a cake. I was just browsing the net, when I came across the milkmaid website and I found this recipe there. I was quite skeptical about the result. But I was amazed to check the result. It was perfectly moist, soft, spongy and most important of all, very tasty. The flavour of ginger and cinnamon  gives such a warmth and is very comforting. This is a welcoming food for winters and monsoons.

The next amazing thing about this ginger bread is that it is made with wheat flour making it healthy and guilt free snack.  So all the cake lovers can enjoy this ginger bread 🍞 without any guilt. I just loved the colour and design on the cake ( the border, I dint expect this design. ). I have caramelised the sugar and added the caramelised sugar to the cake mixture and hence the super brown colour.

Preparation

Take sugar in a pan and heat it.

Keep mixing once in a while. 

Continue heating until it melts.

Allow it to become brown in colour.

When it turns brown as shown In the picture below, switch off the flame.

Add hot water slowly. 

Mix well.

Now switch on the flame again and bring it to boil.

Once it comes to a boil, switch off the flame and keep aside to cool. In the meantime, sift maida ( all purpose flour ), whole wheat flour and baking soda together. Keep this aside.

Take another bowl and put ghee in it.

Break an egg in it.

Beat it with a whisk for 5 minutes. I have used an electric whisk here. Beat until it mixes well.

Now add condensed milk, ginger paste and caramelised sugar syrup.  

Mix well.

Now add the maida wheat flour mixture little by little and gently fold. Do not mix too much. Just make sure to gently fold the flour in the batter.

The cake batter should be thick and of dropping consistency.

Grease a bread loaf pan or a cake pan and pour the cake batter into it. Tap the cake tin or bread loaf pan to remove any excess air in between. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade. I have baked the ginger bread at 180 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes. And then reduced the temperature to 170 degrees centigrade and baked for 10 minutes. ( Always keep an eye on the oven after 30 minutes for any cake you bake. ) I left the bread in the oven to cool. After almost an hour, I removed the cake from the oven and allowed to cool completely on the wire rack.

Ingredients

Ghee 50 g ( Or ) 1/2 cup
Egg 1
Sugar 3 tbsp.
Hot water 1/2 cup ( Or ) 75ml
Condensed Milk 200 g ( Or ) a little less than 2 cups
Ginger Paste 3 tsp
Maida ( all purpose flour ) 1/2 cup ( Or ) 25 g
Whole wheat flour 1 cup ( Or ) 50 g
Baking Soda 13/4 tsp

Method

1. Heat sugar in a pan and melt it. Heat until it becomes brown in colour. 
2. Switch off the flame and add hot water slowly. Mix well.
3. Again switch on the flame and bring it to a boil. Switch off the flame and keep aside. Cool it completely.
4. Sift maida, wheat flour and baking soda together and keep aside.
5. Take ghee in a bowl and add an egg in it. 
6. Mix well with a whisk or an electric blender. Whisk until the egg mixes well with ghee.
7. Now add condensed milk, caramelised sugar syrup and ginger paste in the egg ghee mixture. Mix well.
8. Now add the flour mixture little by little and gently fold in the batter. Do not over mix.
9. Pour into the greased cake pan or bread loaf pan.
10. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 40-4 minutes or toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. 
11. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
12. This ginger bread or ginger cake can be enjoyed for upto 2 days without refrigeration.
13. Enjoy this aromatic ginger bread with a dollop of honey on it.

Notes

• Always keep an eye on the oven after 30 minutes.
• After pouring the cake batter in the greased tin, tap the tin gently to remove any excess air inbetween.
• Do not remove the cake out of the oven to check if the cake is done or not. Let the cake be in the oven and insert the toothpick in the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, allow it to cool else bake it for some more time. 
• I baked the ginger bread or ginger cake in the middle rack of the oven.
• You can also prepare muffins in the muffin mould with the same batter. 

This post has been submitted to the Livogen Iron Chef Contest ..  http://www.livogen.in/iron-chef