I really love spices cakes, it’s one of my favorite desserts, along with Pouding chômeur with maple syrup.  Autumn and winter are two seasons that are perfect time to bake and eat spices cakes.  I went looking for traditional spices cakes recipes for ideas for my recipe so I’ve been working on my recipe, adding things, removing some.  I used before nuts, but I’ve developed since food intolerance towards nuts so I removed them and replaced them with dried sweetened cranberries.  After that I tested the right amount of dried sweetened cranberries and I think over 1/4 cup the cake gets too sweet.  Allspice and nutmeg have both strong scent, so it’s important to only put in small doses.

I’ve been trying to translate it from French so bear with me.  I hope you like it, if you ever try it.

Spices Cake

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 dash of powdered allspice
2-3 dashes of powdered black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon powdered nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon powdered clove
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup grease
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup boiling water

Add the baking powder, soda, the salt and the spices into the flour and mix. Turn into cream the grease, the brown sugar and the eggs, and beat well. Add the molasses and mix well. Add the flour with the spices in it and mix well. Add the boiling water and dried cranberries and mix well with a spoon. Put the dough in a 9 inches square in a greased mold. Bake at 350 degrees, for around 40-45 minutes.

P.S.  Since I don’t like butter I use margarine for the recipe.

I got another black kitty, but this time I went to the SPCA because their pets are always supervised by vets and I did not want to lose that one as well.  He was too young though to be sterilized so I became his guardian for a month instead.  I bought him in october, but he’s still too young to be sterilized yet.

I did not dare mention it here because I was so excited about Merlin then he died a few days later.  I feared the same thing could happen to Percy.  But Percy is packed with good health and energy, and he’s a little imp.

This year has been tough for me and I got somewhat depressed.  Percy has brighten my days.

Here is a picture of Percy:

Here is his profile on Catster:

http://www.catster.com/cats/1327952

And his YouTube page:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5FbcjXpH7mS2HJwmWlnMmTnrIw0mi3as