Ginger Cake with Hibiscus and Dark Chocolate
vegetarian // serves 8-10
Triple ginger pound cake, raspberry dark chocolate ganache filling, hibiscus cream cheese frosting. This is the fifth and final dish in my 2021 Series of Five Sustainable Dishes, a project supported by the Stanford Office of the Vice President for the Arts. The series is a personal exploration of the various meanings of “sustainable food”. My goal with this series is to consider some angles from which food and food products can be considered good for the environment.
Here, ginger pound cake is made with fresh, dried, and homemade crystallized ginger for a bright yet balanced ginger flavor. The homemade crystallized ginger is much spicier and more fragrant than the store-bought kind, and is truly the highlight of the cake. The cake is then soaked in a ginger milk syrup before it is layered with raspberry dark chocolate ganache and covered in hibiscus cream cheese frosting. It’s decorated with mixed florals and hibiscus flowers.
I chose to take a look at the idea of “corporate social responsibility” for this dessert. In particular, I’d like to highlight one brand as a case study in fair-trade certifications.
I came upon Endangered Species Chocolate (ESC) while shopping for this recipe. ESC’s packaging claims that it sells premium, fair-trade chocolate while advancing conservation—and it seems to stand by what it promises. ESC truthfully donates 10% of net profits to partners in wildlife conservation, such as National Forest Foundation and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. They are certified by The Fairtrade System, which enforces producer participation in setting global minimum prices for products, transparency about future sourcing as a show of long-term commitment, and requirements for gender equity, among other criteria.
The Fairtrade System is one of a number of recommended programs with strong enforcement mechanisms. These are labels that require a third-party audit to verify that standards have been met. A search will yield a list of recommended labels (i.e. Fair for Life, Naturland Fair), as well as labels to approach with caution (Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade USA). Weak labels allow brands with ongoing human rights and environmental violations to use their label, or allow their label on products with as little as 30% ingredients certified, leading to “greenwashing”: companies conveying a false impression about how their products are more environmentally sound than they actually are. I recommend doing research to know which certifiers to trust. Though they can be flawed, certifiers are one of the best ways the average consumer can shop ethically.
As for Suncore Foods and Gourmet Sweet Botanicals, my focus was on buying from small plant-based companies that advertise care in the sourcing and integrity of their products. Suncore Foods is a women- and minority-owned organic company that brings South American products and traditions to the U.S. It does not have fair-trade certifications, as far as I know. I did not hear back from Gourmet Sweet Botanicals when I contacted them asking about their company values. I think it’s important to reach out to brands to talk to them about their work and be aware that not all companies will tell the truth or provide enough detail about their “eco-friendly” or “ethically sourced” products when asked.
Human rights and environmental sustainability are interconnected through the unfair distribution of environmental risks and resources globally. To tackle environmental injustice and racism, we need to address systemic inequity in the international supply chain and workforces. Fairtrade can help by protecting the rights of producers through just terms of trade, better prices, and tactical support to those who are impacted most by the climate crisis.
Product spotlight:
Endangered Species Chocolate: Tart Raspberries and Dark Chocolate Bar
Suncore Foods: Fuchsia Hibiscus Supercolor Powder
Gourmet Sweet Botanicals: micro marigolds, micro white mum, verbena flowers, mini mum flowers, micro dianthus
what you need:
for the triple ginger cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp kosher salt
2 ½ tsp ground ginger
½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger. I highly recommend using homemade. I like to use The Daring Gourmet’s recipe for candied ginger. making homemade also yields the byproducts ginger sugar and ginger syrup, which I use in this recipe.
2 cups sugar. to make this extra special, I use half vanilla sugar and some ginger sugar from the crystallized ginger-making process, then top it off with plain granulated sugar.
1 cup butter, softened
3 tsp grated ginger root
½ tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
for the ginger syrup milk soak:
1 cup milk or neutral-tasting plant milk, like almond
½ cup ginger syrup, which is a byproduct of making homemade crystallized ginger. if you don’t have this, use a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated until dissolved) instead.
for the dark chocolate raspberry ganache filling:
1 ½ cups heavy cream
12 oz high quality dark chocolate, chopped. if you would like to maintain the integrity of the recipe as I made it, use Endangered Species Chocolate Tart Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Grizzly Bar.
for the hibiscus cream cheese frosting:
16 oz cream cheese
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp kosher salt
3 tbsp hibiscus powder, or as much as needed. I like to use Suncore Foods Fuchsia Hibiscus Supercolor Powder.
optional, to decorate:
edible flowers: micro marigolds, micro white mum, verbena flowers, mini mum flowers, micro dianthus
how to make it:
to make the triple ginger cake:
preheat oven to 350 F. grease and line two loaf pans.
in a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and ground ginger.
toss chopped crystallized ginger throughout the flour mixture until coated and set aside.
in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, ginger root, vanilla, eggs on low speed. once incorporated, turn to high and beat for 3-4 minutes.
with mixer running on low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk into the beaten butter mixture.
pour batter into the prepared pans and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
allow to cool for 30 minutes before turning out onto rack to cool completely. once the cakes are fully cooled, use a cake leveler to slice into equal layers about 1 inch think. you will probably have extra cake layers and cake trimmings to snack on.
to make the ginger syrup milk soak:
combine milk of choice and ginger syrup. set aside.
to make the dark chocolate raspberry ganache filling:
in a small saucepan, heat cream until just beginning to steam.
place chopped chocolate in a heat-safe bowl or pyrex and pour over the hot cream. let stand for 5 minutes.
whisk until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool and slightly firm with a spreadable consistency.
to make the hibiscus cream cheese frosting:
in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese.
slowly add powdered sugar, mixing on low speed until combined.
beat in vanilla and salt.
for the ombre frosting, divide the frosting into four bowls and add increasing amounts of hibiscus powder to flavor and color each bowl. the hibiscus is tart and fruity so taste as you go. I used about 3 tbsp powder total to make a gradient from light to dark pink.
to assemble the cake:
once cakes are cooled and leveled off into layers, use a pastry brush to dabble the ginger syrup milk soak evenly into the layers. you may not need all of the liquid.
create a layered cake alternating ginger cake with dark chocolate ganache.
frost the whole cake with hibiscus cream cheese frosting, starting with light pink on one end of the cake and ending with dark pink. use an offset spatula to blend the colors into a smooth gradient and add texture to the frosting.
if desired, decorate with edible flowers.
chill for 30 min-1 hour before serving.
to serve:
slice 1 inch thick portions of cake and serve. enjoy.
Tip: cake freezes fantastically. portion the cake and then freeze in airtight freezer bags. since this is a butter-based cake, you will want to serve it at room temperature or only slightly chilled, so take it out of the freezer and let it come up to temperature before serving.
