Plum gingerbread cakes

"And I had but one penny in the world. Thou should’st have it to buy gingerbread."
– William Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost

He looks at me with Smartie eyes, his bow tie soft and red. I could smell his scent wafting through the dome glass, enticing and familiar. Hints of ginger, with traces of cinnamon and nutmeg and the tiniest suggestion of cloves and allspice fill my breath as I close my eyes and sigh happily.

Oh Gingerbread man, how I love to eat you piece by piece.

Gingerbread never ceases to bring me happiness - either in the form of a person, in a slice of cake or enveloped in a cookie, I will eat them all. The gingerbread pancakes I made a while back still linger on my taste buds, I yearned for the gorgeous spices and decided it was time for the gingerbread to return. Tonight I am cooking for my husband and a friend so I wanted my gingerbread a little more refined for company. And as our friend loves plums I thought this arrangement would be perfect.

ease: 5/5.
prep time: 15mins.
cooking time: 15mins.
total: 30mins.

taste: 4.5/5. Deep, sweet, sticky gingerbread gives way to the juicy, tart plum, soft and round. Ryan wolfed them down in 4 seconds flat when they came straight out of the oven. I added some allspice, nutmeg and cloves, about 1/4tsp each. My only complaint was that they fell apart when taken out of the moulds and the plum sunk unlike the photos of the original recipe.

would I make it again: Yes.

recipe: http://sgp1.paddington.ninemsn.com.au/gourmettraveller/recipes/db/gourmettraveller/59/5950.asp