French Spice Cake (pain d’épices)

By lorik

Ingredients

• 248 grams (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 99 grams (1 cup) almond flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from recipes.177milkstreet.com

Preparation

Step 1

Heat the oven to 325ºF with a rack in the upper-middle position. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, the cinnamon, baking soda, ground ginger, mace, salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and honey until smooth. Add the milk, eggs, crystallized ginger, fresh ginger and orange zest; whisk until thoroughly combined. 

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold only until no dry flour remains. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, then bake until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted at the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 65 to 70 minutes.

Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely, about 2 hours.