Here’s our tribute to Thanksgiving: plenty of warm spices, a moist cake for crowds, and an ice cream that tastes like the classic holiday dessert.
• YIELD: ONE 9 X 13-INCH SHEET CAKE •
This spicy, sweet cake is not a true sheet cake (in the American potluck sense of the word). Instead, it’s made in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. It gets turned out and coated in a meringue that’s like melted marshmallows. That meringue is then browned in the oven.
FOR THE CAKE
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground dried ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small bits, plus additional for greasing
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup molasses
3 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup grated peeled fresh ginger
1 cup milk, warmed in a small saucepan over low heat
FOR THE ICING
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon marshmallow flavoring or pure vanilla extract
OVEN RACK • center | OVEN TEMPERATURE • 350°F
PREP • Butter and flour the inside of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
TO START THE CAKE
1 • Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, dried ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl until uniform. Set aside.
2 • Use an electric mixer at medium speed to beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the inside of the bowl, then beat in the molasses until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure the previous one is incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the fresh ginger.
3 • Beat in about half the warm milk, then beat in about half the flour mixture at low speed until uniform. Beat in the remaining milk, then remove the beaters and stir in the remaining flour mixture with a rubber spatula until there are no dry bits of flour remaining in the batter. Pour and scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
TO FINISH UP
4 • Bake until puffed and set, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool the cake in its baking sheet on a wire rack until room temperature, about 1½ hours.
TO ICE THE CAKE
5 • Heat the oven to 425°F. Bring about 1 inch of water to a simmer in the bottom half of a double boiler or a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to low so the water simmers slowly. Put the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the top half of the double boiler or a heat-safe bowl. Set over the simmering water and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until hot and fluffy, until no sugar granules can be felt in the mixture, about 3 minutes.
6 • Remove the top half of the double boiler or the bowl from over the water. Set on the countertop—on a hot pad, if necessary—and add the flavoring or vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed until cool, thick, and shiny, sort of like Marshmallow Fluff, about 7 minutes.
7 • Unmold the cooled cake onto a rimmed baking sheet; remove the baking pan. (The cake is now upside down.) Spread the fluffy icing all over the cake, coating the top and sides evenly. Use a rubber spatula to make wavy peaks in the icing.
8 • Bake until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes or to room temperature, about 1 hour. Store loosely wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for 1 day. Bring to room temperature before serving.
PRO TIP • The warmed milk helps incorporate the molasses evenly in the batter. However, don’t make it too hot or it can scramble the eggs.
• YIELD: ABOUT 1 QUART •
Or call it “frozen pumpkin pie.” Solid-pack canned pumpkin is just what it sounds like: cooked pumpkin in a can. Do not use overly sweet pumpkin pie filling or savory frozen pumpkin puree.
1¼ cups heavy cream
1 cup regular evaporated milk (do not use low-fat or fat-free)
5 large egg yolks, at room temperature
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground dried ginger
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup canned solid-pack pure pumpkin, stored in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before using
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
TO MAKE THE CUSTARD
1 • Warm the cream and evaporated milk in a large saucepan set over medium-low heat until little bubbles fizz around the inner perimeter of the pan. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale brown and fluffy, about 6 minutes, scraping down the inside of the bowl once.
2 • Beat about half the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream until smooth; then beat this combined mixture into the remaining milk mixture in the pan. Set over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the custard thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon and the temperature registers 170°F, 4 to 7 minutes.
3 • Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
TO FINISH UP
4 • Whisk the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract into the custard and refrigerate while you prepare an ice-cream machine. Freeze the canned pumpkin mixture in the machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions, until the frozen custard can be mounded on a spoon without the edges immediately melting. Store in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 1 month.
À LA MODE IT • Put the frozen custard to the side of it!
PRO TIP • Almost every can of condensed milk has “shake well” embossed on the lid. No joke: milk solids fall out of suspension.
