Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- Topping:
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 small ripe red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
- .
- Cake:
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Large pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
- 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 large eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon confectioners' sugar
- A few drops of vanilla
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. For the topping, melt the butter, brown sugar, and ginger in the cake pan over medium-low heat. Cover with a single layer of the tomato slices. If you have more tomatoes, reserve for another use.For the cake, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and mace together. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the molasses, then add the egg yolks one yolk at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well. Add the milk alternately with the dry ingredients, beating well after each addition.
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the whites into the cake batter. Spread the batter over the tomatoes and bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.
Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen it. Turn the cake over onto a serving platter and let it sit, still in the pan, for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan.
To serve, whip the cream and flavor with the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Cut the cake into wedges and serve the cream on the side.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Recipe Source: You Say Tomato by Joanne Weir (Broadway Books)
Reprinted with permission.
