The term Spice Islands most commonly refers to the Maluku Islands (formerly the Moluccas), which lie on the equator, between Sulawesi (Celebes) and New Guinea in what is now Indonesia, and were once the only source of cloves, mace and nutmeg.
So much for the dry terminology. What it doesn’t tell you is the whole of history just might be tied to “What’s for dinner?”. Spices bring up visions of caravans crossing great expanses to bring the colors and scents of far off places to the world. Just the names conjure up images of equatorial heat and lush tropical surroundings.
I’ve always preferred spicy to sweet usually phrased as preferring foods that “bite back”. When it comes to cakes, one of my favorites is a spice cake where all those lovely flavors aren’t overwhelmed by sugar. Here is one that is easy to make and can be eaten plain or with a cream cheese icing.
SPICE CAKE
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup milk
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter, softened until easily spreadable
2 cups dark brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and lightly flour a 9-by-13-inch pan.
Whisk dry ingredients and spices in a large bowl.
Mix milk, eggs and vanilla extract in a 2-cup measuring cup.
Beat softened butter into dry ingredients, first on low, then medium, until mixture forms pebble-sized pieces.
Add about 1/3 of the milk mixture and beat on low until smooth. Add remaining milk mixture in two stages; beat on medium speed until batter is just smooth. Add the sugar; beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Pour batter into cake pan.
Bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the cake’s center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack; let cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the pan perimeter and turn cake onto rack. Let cool.
Now just to show what pictures the names of spices can create, here is Langston Hughes extolling the beauty of the many shades of black women with “Harlem Sweeties”.
Harlem Sweeties
by Langston HughesHave you dug the spill
Of Sugar Hill?
Cast your gims
On this sepia thrill:
Brown sugar lassie,
Caramel treat,
Honey-gold baby
Sweet enough to eat.
Peach-skinned girlie,
Coffee and cream,
Chocolate darling
Out of a dream.
Walnut tinted
Or cocoa brown,
Pomegranate-lipped
Pride of the town.
Rich cream-colored
To plum-tinted black,
Feminine sweetness
In Harlem’s no lack.
Glow of the quince
To blush of the rose.
Persimmon bronze
To cinnamon toes.
Blackberry cordial,
Virginia Dare wine—
All those sweet colors
Flavor Harlem of mine!
Walnut or cocoa,
Let me repeat:
Caramel, brown sugar,
A chocolate treat.
Molasses taffy,
Coffee and cream,
Licorice, clove, cinnamon
To a honey-brown dream.
Ginger, wine-gold,
Persimmon, blackberry,
All through the spectrum
Harlem girls vary—
So if you want to know beauty’s
Rainbow-sweet thrill,
Stroll down luscious,
Delicious, fine Sugar Hill.
