Desserts

' 2 sticks butter -- 1 cup, 1 cup GOOD cocoa powder, 4 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup flour, pinch salt'

'Procedure is: melt butter and stir in cocoa, beat eggs like crazy, crazy crazy, til they're whitish and thickish and ribbon off the end of the spoon or fork when lifted above bowl: this takes some time, like 5 or 8 minutes by hand. Add beaten eggs to butter/cocoa but ONLY WHEN the latter has completely COOLED. Stir in flour, add pinch of salt.Pour into buttered tin, 9x9"'

'Bake in 350 oven, start radiating anxiety checking after 12 minutes.' -ILS

Fresh Ginger Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour one 9x9 inch pan or line the bottom with wax or parchment paper
Whisk together thoroughly:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt
Whisk together in a large bowl:
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup light molasses, 1/4 cup honey, 1 large egg
Whisk in: 1/2 cup finely minced fresh ginger
Combine in a sucepan and heat until the butter is melted:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, 1/2 cup water
Whisk into the molasses mixture. Stir in the flour mixture until just smooth. Scrape the batter into the pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Slide a thin knife around the cake to detach it from the pan. Invert the cake and peel off the paper liner, if using. Let cool right side up on the rack.
*From Joy of Cooking, tested and vouched for by SRD. I LOVE this cake. Often you have all of the ingredients on hand, or else you just need to buy some ginger. SO reliable, SO good, and SO hard to mess up. Impossible, in fact, IMO.