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Honolulu Gingerbread
1/3 cup shortening 1/2 cup sugar 2 beaten eggs 1/2 cup dark molasses 2 cups flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon ginger 1/2 cup boiling water 3/4 cup cocoanut Cream shortening and sugar, add molasses and eggs. Mix and sift remaining dry ingredients and add alternately with hot water. Stir in cocoanut. Bake in greased ring mold. When done, turn out on plate, fill center with shredded pineapple, and top off with sweetened whipped cream.
A plain molasses gingerbread dressed up with coconut, pineapple and cream. The original gives no oven temperature or baking time, so those are the first gaps to fill.
- Oven and timeBake at 350F. A 6-cup ring mold takes roughly 30 to 35 minutes; test with a skewer in the thickest part of the ring, which is where it stays wet longest.
- Ring moldAny 6- to 8-cup tube or bundt pan works. Grease it thoroughly and flour it as well, since molasses batters stick, and turn the cake out while still warm or it will cling as it cools.
- CocoanutThis is dried shredded coconut, the standard packaged product of the period, sold both sweetened and unsweetened. Modern bagged sweetened flake will make the cake noticeably sweeter; unsweetened shreds keep it closer to a plain molasses gingerbread.
- Boiling water and sodaThe ingredient list calls for boiling water though the method says only hot; use it hot. It helps the soda work against the acid molasses and thins the batter to a pourable consistency; get the cake into the oven promptly once combined.
- ShorteningVegetable shortening gives the soft, slightly cakey crumb intended here. Butter works and tastes better, but the crumb will be firmer and it browns faster at the edges.
- MolassesDark molasses, not blackstrap, which is bitter and will fight the ginger. The 3/4 teaspoon of ginger is modest by modern taste; up to two teaspoons is reasonable if you want it forward.
- Pineapple filling"Shredded pineapple" was a canned product. Drained crushed pineapple is the closest substitute; drain it well or the cream and the cut surfaces of the cake will go soggy.
- Assembly and yieldFill and cream only just before serving. The ring gives 8 to 10 slices, and the undressed cake keeps two or three days well wrapped.