This was an experiment with flavors. The catalyst - a bunch of fruit nectars and some crystallized ginger. I had a pantry cleaning out episode last weekend and came across some odds and ends. Much more on the odd side. I freely admit I buy random groceries all the time, things catch my eye in stores. I'm sure at the moment of discovery I have a thread of inspiration, but then it dissipates by the time I get home and I'm left with among other things 6 cans of various fruit nectars. I'm on a mission to use up my "odd grocery" stockpile.
Because this was an test of flavor combinations, I won't go into the entire recipe. To the basic yellow cake recipe, I replaced the milk with 1 cup pear nectar, 1/4 c water, 2 t ground ginger, 3/4 c finely chopped crystalized ginger and the zest of 1 lemon. Baked 18 minutes.
Finely chopped ginger is key, a little zing of ginger goes a long way. The lemon zest added some punch to the tame pear nectar. Rating 9 out of 10. These worked.
For the frosting
1 c butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 c confectioners sugar, sifted
2 T ground ginger
pinch of salt
Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy, add ginger, salt and confectioners sugar, gradually. Beat with electric mixer 5 minutes until light and fluffy. If you like a lot of ginger you could add some chopped crystalized ginger to your frosting. I like creamy frosting rather than crunchy.
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