M.F.K. Fisher: Gingerbread

G is for Gingerbread.

In How to Cook a Wolf, Fisher says her mother's recipe for Gingerbread "... is the best recipe for gingerbread ever devised." Reminder, How to Cook a Wolf was published in 1942. Edith's Gingerbread is a basic gingerbread recipe with one exception: boiling water. I've made a few different versions of cakey gingerbread and never seen boiling water. She notes that the batter will seem "much too thin to make a cake." She's right. It seemed very thin and watery. In the book, it says to bake for 20 minutes. When I looked at my cake after that time, it was wiggling and was much more solid after 11 more minutes.

Fisher describes the gingerbread as springy. It is indeed springy. However, I have another recipe which does not contain shortening and has more molasses that I like better. So, I probably would not make this again. However, my husband thinks it was pretty good, but then he seems to like baked goods with shortening (trans fats) in them.