Shoo-Fly Cake...

I recently joined a group called The Cake Slice.  A cake cookbook is chosen then each month a recipe is voted on and the group all make the decided on cake.  What a great way to try out new recipes and to meet new bakers!

The cookbook that we will be working through is Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson .  And the first cake that we are baking is the Shoo-Fly Cake.  You like Grandma's kitchen and warm gingerbread?  You will enjoy this cake... for dessert or with coffee in the morning.

I love that the recipes give weights for the ingredients! Folks get yourselves a scale and weigh your stuff - it is the best way to insure consistent yummy results.

Let's get going with the topping.  Butter, flour and brown sugar is not a bad way to start off!

Now the recipe says to use your fingers to get the topping to a crumb.  Well I have fingers nails and that just isn't a pretty mess so in my house we use a pastry cutter.  Quite the handy tool - try it for mashed potatoes sometime. Once crumbled put the mixture into the fridge for some chill time.... then remember that you haven't turned the oven on to preheat and do that.

I also don't do much sifting.  I use a whisk for the dry ingredients first then move onto the wet. Did I mention weigh your ingredients?!

Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  At this point I realized that I had actually drank the coffee that I need for the cake and take a break to make a new cup. Gives the oven more time to heat up. ; )

So for the next part of the recipe we whisk together all the gooeyness!  Melted butter, molasses eggs, sugar and vanilla. The sugar likes to clump up so be sure to show it some gentle muscle.

  

Time to make it all work together.... coffee, gooey, flour, coffee, gooey, flour.  Scrape and whisk.

Pour into a buttered pan and sprinkle the topping all over.  Time to get baked!

The Shoo-Fly Cake Recipe can be found in the cookbook Vintage Cakes.

A couple of side notes....

I used a 9" square pan.  The recipe calls for a 9" round pan.  Neither of these pans is big enough for this recipe.  Due to the small pan size my cake did not bake evenly.  When all was said and done it was yummy served with a dollop of whipped cream but I will remake this cake and use a more appropriate sized pan.

Visit the other Cake Slice Bakers here.

:)