flipMolasses Gingerbread
Molasses Gingerbread
Why this dish? Poe spent his life on the road — Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York. Dense, sweet, and keeping well, molasses gingerbread was the ideal pocket cake for the impecunious traveler and the hard worker he was, bent over his manuscripts late into the night.
A dense, dark cake, spiced with ginger and cinnamon, sweetened with molasses. It keeps for days and slips into a pocket: the companion of long roads and nights of writing.
The traveler without fortune, reader, soon learns to provide himself with provisions that do not betray him. This gingerbread, dark as a moonless night and heavy with molasses, I have carried in my pocket from stagecoach to stagecoach, from Baltimore to Philadelphia. The ginger and cinnamon awaken the spirit; and when the candle burned low and my pen raced across The Raven, a piece of this cake served me for supper. It does not spoil, you see — a rare virtue, in a world where everything corrupts so quickly.
- •Wheat flour — several measures (base)
- •Cane molasses — in good quantity (sweetener and binder)
- •Ground ginger — generously (master spice)
- •Cinnamon — a pinch (spice)
- •Butter or lard — a good spoonful (fat)
- •Baking soda (pearlash) — a pinch (leavening)
- •Egg — one (binder)
Molasses Gingerbread
A dense, dark cake, spiced with ginger and cinnamon, sweetened with molasses. It keeps for days and slips into a pocket: the companion of long roads and nights of writing.
Why this dish? Poe spent his life on the road — Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York. Dense, sweet, and keeping well, molasses gingerbread was the ideal pocket cake for the impecunious traveler and the hard worker he was, bent over his manuscripts late into the night.
The traveler without fortune, reader, soon learns to provide himself with provisions that do not betray him. This gingerbread, dark as a moonless night and heavy with molasses, I have carried in my pocket from stagecoach to stagecoach, from Baltimore to Philadelphia. The ginger and cinnamon awaken the spirit; and when the candle burned low and my pen raced across The Raven, a piece of this cake served me for supper. It does not spoil, you see — a rare virtue, in a world where everything corrupts so quickly.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wheat flour — several measures (base)
- Cane molasses — in good quantity (sweetener and binder)
- Ground ginger — generously (master spice)
- Cinnamon — a pinch (spice)
- Butter or lard — a good spoonful (fat)
- Baking soda (pearlash) — a pinch (leavening)
- Egg — one (binder)
Ingredients
- Wheat flour — 250 g (base)
- Cane molasses — 180 g (sweetener and binder)
- Ground ginger — 2 tsp (master spice)
- Cinnamon — 1 tsp (spice)
- Melted butter — 100 g (fat)
- Baking soda — 1 tsp (leavening)
- Egg — 1 (binder)
- Hot water — 120 ml (hydration)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°C. Butter a small loaf pan.
- Mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon, and baking soda.
- In another bowl, whisk the molasses, melted butter, and egg.
- Fold in the dry ingredients, then thin with the hot water until a smooth, pourable batter forms.
- Pour into the pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes: a knife inserted comes out clean.
- Cool completely before cutting into squares; it improves and keeps for several days wrapped in a cloth.
How it was made : Molasses gingerbread was an everyday cake throughout 19th-century America, prized because it used cheap molasses instead of refined sugar, and its density ensured good keeping. It was leavened with baking soda (then called 'saleratus' or 'pearlash'). Ideal for travel and provisions.
The contemporary twist : Cut it with a raven-shaped cookie cutter and glaze the edges with black sugar — a literary snack.
Edgar Allan Poe · Charactorium
