Poor Laurie Colwin. She died way too young.
I believe she is the original blogger. Her cookbooks are
so in the style of a really wonderful posting. They
are personal and friendly and generous.
This recipe is adapted from her recipe for
gingerbread in Home Cooking.
She writes at length about molasses and cane syrup
which she uses to make her's. I use Lyle's Golden syrup.
She also talks about lemon brandy which is
just brandy with lemon peels in it. She uses that
rather than vanilla. I have used it in the past
and it is good.
Here goes:
Cream one stick of sweet butter with 1/2 cup of light or
dark brown sugar. Beat until fluffy and add
1/2 cup of Lyle's Golden syrup.
Beat in 2 eggs.
Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
and one very generous tablespoon of ground ginger.
Add one teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of
ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of ground
allspice.
Add two teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Add 1/2 cup of buttermilk and turn into a buttered
9 inch tin. I made cupcakes instead this time.
This recipe makes 12.
Bake at 350 F for between 20 and thirty minutes.
I make a plain old buttercream icing.
For this I used a stick of butter
and a little milk, and vanilla and
confectioner's sugar.
