Cinque Épices Gingerbread

I love gingerbread. Can you tell? This is part of my #60DaysofGingerbread.

You can always purchase a pre-blended gingerbread spice; I love the one from Diaspora Spice Co., but this one is blended at the time of baking.

Ingredients

Gingerbread

• 1-1/4 cup butter, plus some for greasing

• unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting pan

• 1 cup unsulphured molasses

• 1/2 cup organic granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup organic dark brown sugar

• 1/3 cup ginger syrup (you can substitute maple syrup, if needed)

• 2 teaspoons ginger paste or freshly grated ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon each ground mixed peppercorns, ground allspice, ground cloves, ground nutmeg (that plus the ground ginger, below, equals 1 Tablespoon Cinque Épices!)

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 2-1/2 cups flour

• 1 cups ground almonds or ground hazelnuts (I use whatever I have on-hand)

• 1 Tablespoon baking powder

• 1 cup sour cream

• 2 eggs

• organic powdered sugar for serving

Lemon Curd

• 1 cup fresh lemon juice

• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

• 1 cup organic granulated sugar

• 6 large eggs

• 12 Tablespoons butter, cut into cubes

Procedure

Lemon Curd

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

Gingerbread

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Butter pan and dust the pan with unsweetened cocoa powder to prevent sticking.

Melt the butter. In large mixing bowl, whisk together molasses, sugar, ginger syrup, ginger paste, eggs, and sour cream. Pour in the melted butter and stir until well-combined.

Add in dry ingredients and stir till completely moistened. Spoon into buttered cake pan.

Bake for 1 hour or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Let cool for another 10 to 15 minutes.

To serve, spoon a dollop of lemon curd onto your serving plate. Top with a square of gingerbread. Dust with powdered sugar.