MLK Weekend 2021 - Old Twelfth Night: Gingerbread Bundt Cake

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Quiet and restful day today. Was checking some old blog posts and realized today is Old Twelfth Night. According to Karen Burns-Booth's blog, Lavender & Lovage, "Today, the 17th of January, is Old Twelfth Night, a date that is still celebrated in many rural communities throughout Great Britain, particularly in the  English counties where apples and orchards are prevalent, mainly Suffolk, Kent, Somerset, Herefordshire, and Devon, and, where wassailing the apple orchards and trees is still celebrated. These English counties are also the main cider (cyder) and apple juice producing areas of the U.K. too." The different date all has to do with the conversion of the old Julian calendar to the Gregorian one. For me it comes down to having and excuse for one more celebration to recognize during the cold, dark winter months. 

Since I didn't get to making a cake for Twelfth Night on the 5th I decided I'd make one for tonight, Old Twelfth Night. Something with apples probably would have been more appropriate but since I didn't get to make anything gingerbread this Christmastide I decided to go with that. A number of years ago I tried making a gingerbread cake with a house shaped Bundt pan from Nordic Ware. I didn't turn out right. It didn't quite bake through. This time I decided I'd try it but with a regular Bundt pan in case the odd shape of the previous one had something to do with the shape of the pan. 

It looked okay when it came out of the oven. 

However, upon turning it over I discovered the result wasn't quite what I'd hoped for. What you see on top of the cake was stuck to the pan. Although the recipe recommended baking it for 55-65 minutes I kept it in for 70.  I guess I didn't use enough cooking spray. 

The cake ended up being rather crumbly. In reviewing the recipe afterward I realized I only used two eggs instead of the required four so this is most likely the reason for that consistency. Regardless, it still tasted fantastic and a huge amount of whipped cream covered up the imperfections. Maybe I'll retry making it at Valentine's Day keeping in mind the cooking spray and the eggs.