Crumby molasses cakelets

I was tempted to title this post *blergh* but decided that was probably a bit harsh and definitely a whole lot juvenile. I was feeling a bit cross about these cakelets. Unfortunately 99.9% of the blame lies with me. 

The Molasses crumb cakelets from the Baking Bible were extremely easy to put together and were pretty sweet looking once baked. It was the overpoweringly strong molasses taste that was the problem. The recipe does specify Grandma's light brand of molasses. Well apparently grandma doesn't export to Darwin so I bought the only bottle of molasses I saw in the supermarket. I suspect now (after seeing Vicki's post) that it may have been too dark for this recipe.

I can excuse myself a bit because molasses is not a very common ingredient in Australia so I didn't clue into the significance of light versus dark. Until it was too late. Jeniffer, another Australian Alpha Baker, used treacle in her cakes, since it's part of the same 'family' as molasses. I wish I had used golden syrup (also in the family) since I had it in my pantry already and it would have produced a much milder and altogether more palatable flavour. While I'm grizzling I should also say I'm not a fan of the taste of the canola oil which is used in these cakes in place of butter. All in all, not a success for me this week. Other Alpha Bakers had better results so have a look at their posts for a less whingy description of this week's project.

These cakes are incredibly simply to make. Mix the dry ingredients of flour, sugar and salt with canola oil to make crumbs. Take some of the crumbs out and mix the rest with the molasses, boiling water and baking soda.

The offending ingredient. My strong recommendation is, try golden syrup instead.

The mixture is pretty runny and the smell is reminiscent of making nutty biscuits (except they use golden syrup).

The mixture is poured into the cake tins. I used three different sizes; from friands to tiny gems. The crumbs are sprinkled over them, or in the case of the little gems, under them.

I cooked all three trays of cakes for a lot longer than the recipe stated. Because the mixture was so moist it took a while for the middle to firm up. Even the tiny gems took at least 15 minutes to cook. The middle sized ones came out looking quite nice. 

I put the crumbs on the bottom of the gems because of the decorative shaped bottom.

They came out looking quite pretty. 

Although looking at them now I suppose someone might think I hadn't mixed the flour in properly.

The texture of the cakes was nice. They were very moist and quite dense. Very nice to have a couple with a cup of tea. In theory, anyway.

Next week the Alpha Bakers are cooking Kourambiethes.