Unlike
some families, we don’t have a set-in-stone Christmas dinner menu. It
really varies year to year. We’ve tried just about every holiday roast
imaginable, and I don’t think we’ve even had the exact same side dishes
twice, but when it comes to dessert, that’s a whole other story.
The
meal must end with this gingerbread cake and it’s glistening lemon
glaze. My wife Michele makes this every year, and uses a recipe she
adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook, which despite being very
simple, always gets rave reviews.
Of
course, she adds a few secret, extra-exotic ingredients (I can’t
confirm or deny that one is cardamom), which I didn’t use here, but I’ve
always believed married couples should have there own unique
gingerbread cake recipes, and mine features a little dash of Chinese
five-spice instead.