Pain d’épice

Being in a Christmas food mind set, I knew I had to make a gingerbread cake, not only because it's traditional but also because it's delicious. However, I remembered that once, a long time ago, my friend Ana told me that Suzanne Goin's pain d'épice was super tasty, and boy, was she right: this turned out so good I had three slices at once, and I'm not even ashamed to say it. :D

Pain d’épice
from the beautiful Sunday Suppers at Lucques: Seasonal Recipes from Market to Table

¾ cup honey
½ cup (88g) brown sugar, packed
¾ cup (180ml) water
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon fresh, grated ginger (save the juice while grating it)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C/350/F. Lightly butter a 22x12cm (9x5in) loaf pan. In a large saucepan, bring the honey, brown sugar, and water to a boil, stirring frequently until sugar dissolves. Immediately take off the heat. Sift in one cup of the flour, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Set aside.
Sift together the remaining cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, ginger, ginger juice and vanilla. Whisk in the honey mixture. Slowly fold the remaining dry ingredients into the batter in three parts. Go slow to avoid lumps.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until the loaf is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 25 minutes then carefully unmold onto a wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.

Serves 6-8