December | 2012 | Is this a keeper?

I don’t know about all of you but I was SO relieved to read the blogs last recipe and see that most people had the same reaction to the Gingerbread cake!! Ha ha…I was thinking “what did I do wrong!!!!!” 🙂

I love recipes like this one…complete adventure! I had no idea what Finnish Pulla was, never tasted cardamom, and never braided bread. To me it is always all about the experience rather than if we even like the end result…it is sure nice when we do though. 🙂 If you would like the recipe, check out Erin’s blog The Daily Morsel.

So, Finnish Pulla…had to look that one up to see what exactly I was making…a mildly sweet roll or dessert bread flavored with cardamom; typically with a shiny brown glaze formed by a coating of egg and milk.

The recipe calls for the seeds of cardamom which you grind down rather than using the ground up form. I didn’t have either and happened to see on the P & Q page that a fellow baker was substituting cinnamon and nutmeg instead. I thought that sounded like a good combination but still wanted to try and find the cardamom. Wow!! I had no idea it is one of the most expensive spices there is to bake with…I only saw the ground form but it was $15.99!!!!! I am all for trying the recipe in it’s true form BUT I didn’t even know if we would like the flavor and then I would be left with a very expesive bottle of a spice I may never use….sooo I went the route of substitution this time. I used a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves…and I have to say it tasted fantastic!

I thought this dough was pretty easy to work with however I was glad I had lots of experience braiding hair because wrestling with long strands of dough is tough! Since the holidays are upon us…I did as the recipe recommended making a wreath and tried making the bow…didn’t have, and couldn’t find, pearl sugar so I used my sanding sugar that I use for sugar cookies..seemed to work really well.

After the Gingerbread Cake we made last time, it was sure nice to try something that tasted good and everyone liked!! 🙂 This one is a keeper.

Well this one was interesting! Doesn’t that picture just make you want to take a big bite!!? I will be curious to see what others thought of this recipe. If you would like the recipe check out Karen‘s host blog. It seemed straight forward and I got to try something new which is always exciting…I have never bought or used fresh ginger…I know how did that happen? I actually don’t know…just never had the need I guess. 🙂

Looking back I should have known…when the recipe says the batter may looked curdled but don’t worry it will smooth out I was a little worried. It did look curdled and it did smooth out but in a weird way and things didn’t get better from there…I didn’t even like the smell of the batter. The amount of molasses in this recipe is unbelievable…2 cups! You have got to love that flavor or you will not like this cake.

This cake had very intense flavors from molasses, expresso powder, cocoa, black pepper, ground ginger, fresh ginger…it just didn’t work for us…not one person. I think this is the first recipe no one liked…in fact some only took one bite. I guess too strong of flavors for us. As always, loved the experience but this time did not like the outcome…at all! Not a keeper here…