Gingerbread Pear Cake (And the History of Gingerbread)
Gingerbread is one of those holiday treats that shouldn’t be restricted to the months of November and December. Don’t you agree? And yet, it does have a special appeal during the cooler months. There’s nothing quite like beginning a crisp November morning with a confectioners’ sugar dusted piece of gingerbread, perhaps served with a dollop of whipped cream and a hot cup of coffee. Mmm mmm.
I sometimes wonder how foods became associated with particular seasons. Gingerbread, for instance, originated in the kitchens of ancient Greeks and Egyptians for ceremonial purposes and was brought back to Europe by 11th-century crusaders returning from the Middle East. How did it go from exotic foreign food that only the rich could afford to a scrumptious staple on the Thanksgiving – and especially Christmas – table?
Your guess is as good as mine, though I think gingerbread’s eventual popularity had to do with its incredible flexibility. The earliest recipes were made from a thick paste of ground almonds, stale breadcrumbs, honey and ginger that was pressed into wooden molds. Each mold had a shape carved into it, so when the gingerbread was unmolded after baking it could be displayed as an edible work of art with the likeness of a ruler or a religious scene carved into it. These molded confections bore little resemblance to bread and were originally called “gingerbras,” an Old French name that meant “preserved ginger.” But over time gingerbras became gingerbread, and the name stuck.
In the 16th century breadcrumbs were replaced with flour and eggs were added to the mix, creating a lighter, fluffier product. It was Queen Elizabeth I who is credited with the first gingerbread man though. Her cook took the tradition of molding gingerbread a step further by presenting visiting dignitaries with gingerbread men shaped in their own likeness. Neat! Still doesn’t explain the Christmas connection though. In fact, once gingerbread men were introduced to the masses they became tokens of love presented to sweethearts at fairs, tied up with pretty ribbons. But given the ease with which gingerbread can be shaped – not to mention the invention of gingerbread houses – I guess its association with one of the most festive holidays around was inevitable. 
Modern gingerbread is most often made with flour, spices, ginger and molasses. The addition of molasses came about in the late 17th-century, when cooks began using it as a substitute for honey when making a German honey cake known as lebuckhen. Gingerbread cookies were a popular Christmas creation during the American colonial period because the ingredients were relatively cheap, they were easy to make and the dough was resilient enough to withstand both brick-oven and cook-stove baking.
Learn more about molasses and its fascinating history in this Baking and Books post from the past: Anita’s Molasses Spice Cookies.
Last week I succumbed to my craving for gingerbread by making the Gingerbread Pear Cake you see here. With its fluffy texture, soft pear slices and pronounced flavors of ginger and raw sugar, it took an extra bit of will power not to eat the whole thing myself. (A task made extra tough by the fact that my husband doesn’t like gingerbread so it was mine, all mine!) If I didn’t have my heart set on making a Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust and a Blackberry Pie for Thanksgiving, I might add this cake to the menu.
This will probably be my last post for November so don’t forget to enter the book giveaway for this month! Also, to those of you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I hope you have a beautiful holiday filled with warm company, good food and great conversation. Happy Thanksgiving!
Gingerbread Pear Cake
Adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
- 1 cup unsulfured molasses
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
- 1 large Bosc pear
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
- Whipped cream, optional
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan or a round, springform cake pan. Set aside. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder together. Set aside.
In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy. Set aside.
Peel, quarter and cut the pear into thin slices.
Add the molasses and grated ginger to the brown sugar mixture, beating to combine. Add the baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture, combine. Beat in eggs.
Pour batter into prepared pan and evenly sprinkle the pear slices on top of it. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake begins to firm up around the edges. Tent with tin foil and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack, then cut into squares or slices. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve with whipped cream.
Gingerbread Recipes on Other Blogs:
- Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread from Serious Eats
- Black Sticky Gingerbread from 101 Cookbooks
- Gingerbread Man Cookies from Simply Recipes
- Fresh Gingerbread with Lemon Icing from Lisa’s Kitchen
37 Responses to “Gingerbread Pear Cake (And the History of Gingerbread)”
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I have to make this cake. It looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Great information! Love gingerbread
Looks delicious!
It looks delicious! A scrumptious fall/winter treat!
Cheers,
Rosa
Silly hubby! Mmh… gingerbread!! Have a great feast!
I make a gingerbread bread pudding that is delish
This sounds wonderful! I like the addition of pears, and will definitely try it for Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving!
Your husband doesn’t like gingerbread?? How can this be?
Gingerbread is definitely one of the highlights of Christmas for me.
I love gingerbread, and I’m always happy to add a recipe for it to my collection. I make banana gingerbread whenever I have a couple of overripe bananas. Yummy!
My mom adores gingerbread, I’ll have to make this for her! Where do you find all of your interesting baking facts? Fascinating as always!
Oh gosh, all over the place – books, magazine articles, newspaper clippings… it’s something of an obsession, learning useless bits of foodie knowledge.
This looks and sounds delicious. I love gingerbread (I make a moist and delicious banana gingerbread) and can’t wait to try this version.
Gingerbread is a Christmas tradition in my family. This recipe looks great, and I’m going to attempt it as part of this year’s Christmas tradition. Thanks for the recipe.
bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com
A perfect fall recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
This looks like an awfully scrumptious cake. I really like gingerbread and the addition of pear sounds great. Very Christmas feel to the whole recipe.
Thanks for the information! Can you believe I haven’t ever tasted gingerbread!
To me there is nothing more Fall-like than the aroma of freshly baked gingerbread filling the house. Thanks for the lovely recipe and the history lesson!
Baking and holidays go hand in hand. Beautiful gingerbread cake.
Another recipe I’m going to have to try.
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Interesting history of gingerbread. I always loved the German Lebkuchen…and their gingerbread cookies are different. Less sweet, hard on the outside, softer on the inside.
All very tasty.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Oh my gosh, that cake looks soo delicious!! So moist and tender looking. My stomach’s clamoring for some already haha.
This looks really good!
I will definitely be trying this one! Gingerbread is only one of my all time favorite foods. My mom used to make a medieval-inspired dense gingerbread pudding for Christmas. This recipe seems a bit more towards my taste. Thanks!
I’ve never made anything but a gingerbread house before…and I didn’t even make the parts to it! This looks good! Your little historical notes are always interesting to read. Thanks for the giveaway offer!
That cake looks delicious! I was just contemplating making gingerbread men the other day, but might ditch them in favour of this cake!
I like that this makes a big cake so there is pleny to share. Thanks!
Yummy! I was thinking of making my first gingerbread house this year, but I can’t stand the idea of making it from a kit. I might have to make this while I search the internet for the right gingerbread cookie recipe.
this sounds delicious! love the pears and gingerbread…
I am going to make this, love the recipe, thanks!
It looks delicious and wonderfully dark and sticky. I agree it shouldn’t be restricted just to winter months but it does have such a warming feel to it. Like the pear addition
Mmmmm! Scrumptious!
This looks luscious! I’m making it tonite to bring to a ladies evening.
So moist and yummy looking!
this is my first venture into food blogs and I am entranced! I love making cakes especially ones with fruit – this one sounds sublime! BUT what can I use instead of molasses? and what does unsulfured mean?? I live in Turkey and we can’t get molasses, you see. I don’t think you can use honey, can you, but what about Golden Syrup? I have this in my larder from the UK….
Thanks for the history. Looks like a great cake to test out my new found love of baking!
Hi Ari,
What a great post. I love gingerbread, and yours is beautiful. TDhe idea of adding some sliced fresh pear to the cake sounds perfect. A couple of quick questions before I make the recipe (as soon as the water pipes defrost LOL): 1) What size springform pan did you use? 2) Is that a slice of pear peeking out from the middle of the slice or just my imagination? Do some of the slices scattered on top sink to the middle? Thanks – and Happy New Year!
Just a standard sized spring form pan and yes, some of the pear slices will sink to the middle of the cake. You correctly spotted a pear in the middle of the cake slice!
Thanks!