RECIPE: Pomegranate, dried cherries give gingerbread festive flavor
Jason Schreiber’s new cookbook, “Fruit Cake: Recipes for the Curious Baker” (William Morrow, $32.50), is packed with innovative fruit-forward cakes, plenty of which feature citrus, dried fruits and warm spices that are apropos for winter baking. One, in particular, is appropriate for the holiday season: Pomegranate Molasses and Cherry Cake.
“Scanning the ingredients, you may recognize it for what it is: gingerbread,” writes Schreiber, “but not that of the cookie-cutout persuasion.”
Pomegranate molasses and juice, along with dried cherries, give this dense, dairy-free cake bright, distinctive flavor. And the cocktail of pomegranate juice, white rum and orange liqueur that gets poured into holes poked into the cake as soon as it’s pulled from the oven adds a touch of tutti-frutti festivity.
If you can’t find pomegranate molasses on the grocery shelf, you can make your own. A recipe in Adeena Sussman’s “Sababa: Fresh Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen” (Avery, 2019) calls for combining 4 cups pure pomegranate juice with 2 tablespoons honey. Bring it to a low boil over medium-high heat, then boil until it reduces to 2 cups. Gradually begin lowering the heat, and letting it simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has reduced to 1 scant cup and is “visibly thickened but not as thick as honey.” She adds that “the bubbles will become foamy and small — this is how you know you’re just about ready.”
- For the cake:
- 1 cup dried sweet cherries, such as Bing
- 3/4 cup pomegranate molasses
- 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 3/4 cup neutral oil, such as safflower, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- For the cocktail:
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate juice
- 2 tablespoons white rum
- 2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
- For serving:
- Vanilla ice cream (optional)
- Roughly chop the dried cherries.
- In a small saucepan, combine the cherries, pomegranate molasses, juice, and ginger. Heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, stirring to dissolve the molasses. Set aside to cool.
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Brush an 8-by-2-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish with safflower oil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and light brown sugar until a creamy mixture forms. Whisk in the cooled pomegranate mixture, then stir in the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, make the cocktail by stirring together the pomegranate juice, white rum and orange liqueur.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, use a wooden skewer to punch holes all the way through to the bottom, spaced about 1 inch apart. Slowly pour the cocktail over the cooling cake.
- Allow the cake to cool in the baking dish. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if you’d like. The cake will keep at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days. Serves 9-12.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving, based on 12, without ice cream: 365 calories (percent of calories from fat, 37), 3 grams protein, 53 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 15 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), 31 milligrams cholesterol, 158 milligrams sodium.From “Fruit Cake” by Jason Schreiber. Copyright © 2020 by Jason Schreiber. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Ligaya Figueras is the AJC's senior editor for Food & Dining. Prior to joining the AJC in 2015, she was the executive editor for St. Louis-based culinary magazine Sauce. She has worked in the publishing industry since 1999 and holds degrees from St. Louis University and the University of Michigan.
