Ginger and spice and all things nice...

I've been meaning to share this recipe for a while. It's a simple, yet wonderful cake recipe I stumbled upon years ago, and has always been a favourite for brunches & lunches - especially this time of year. It lends itself to the savoury as much as the sweet, and is a great way to finish off a meal - without overloading your guests with something that's ooey-gooey rich (not that there's anything wrong with ooey-gooey rich!)

So pour a cup of steaming hot breakfast blend coffee and enjoy this little slice of spicy-sweet heaven!

Bon appetit!
Sweets by Ally

Ginger Cake with Spiced Cream

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves (if you don't fancy the taste or smell of cloves, you can omit this ingredient - it won't harm the cake in any way!)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp good vanilla
icing sugar to decorate

For the whipped cream:

3/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp each cinnamon and ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon into a bowl. Set aside.
With an electric mixer (hand or stand version), beat the eggs on high speed until very thick, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar.
Adjusting the mixer to low speed, beat in the flour mixture alternatively with the whipping cream into the eggs, beginning and ending with the flour.
Stir in vanilla.
Pour into the pan and bake until the top springs back when touched lightly, about 35-40 minutes.
To make the spiced cream, combine ingredients in a bowl and whip until the cream holds soft peaks. sprinkle icing sugar over the hot cake, cut into squares and serve with whipped cream.