Boxing Day seems to be a bit like our Black Friday here. All the stores on the high streets (each neighborhood has a main row of shops that they call their high street) have massive sales and insane herds of people. Perfectly happy with our Christmas haul and not seeing the need to buy more junk, we attempted to enjoy a sunny day and go for a walk around Hyde Park and Notting Hill. Since there is a tube strike, we had to take a bus that went straight down Oxford St. As it is the biggest of the shopping streets in London, it was utter chaos. We found ourselves in a bit of a lose\lose situation. The bus rolled a few inches every couple minutes. So we were pretty much at a stand still, but getting of and joining the cluster meant risking possible death by a trampling stampede of eager shoppers.

Finally, we found a side street we could rush over to and just decided to walk. Oh and then it started raining on us. Oh, London.

We’ve been out and about all day, sadly sitting in traffic more than seeing the sights, so I’m finally getting to share my recipe for a spot-on breakfast treat.

This Cranberry Gingerbread Breakfast Cake turned out amazing! I guess black treacle really is the same as molasses. I got the idea for this recipe from a blueberry gingerbread that I had made years ago from Cooking Light Magazine. I thought cranberries would work well and be festive. Plus I added a buttery, sugary, not cooking light-y, crumble topping to add a bit more sweetness to balance the tart cranberries.

This cake was scrumptious and went so well with the Eggs Royale, which turned out perfectly! (Although I will confess, I made an adjustment to my original Hollandaise Sauce recipe. I had published using 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, but have changed it to 2. I made the sauce with 3 here and it was great with a salmon dish or the spinach on the Eggs Florentine, but if you were making it for other purposes, including Eggs Benedict, I think the lemon flavor would be overpowering and not mesh well with the ham.)

Cranberry Gingerbread Breakfast Cake

*adapted from Cooking Light

Makes 20 squares

2 cups flour

2 Tbs chopped crystalized ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

4 Tbs butter, plus more for greasing the pan

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Grease a 9″x11″ pan.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients, flour through salt. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients, buttermilk through eggs. Once the wet ingredients are well whisked, stir in the dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped cranberries and pour into the prepared pan.

Using a pastry blender, or your fingers, mix the brown sugar, flour, and butter until it is a crumbly and grainy consistency. Sprinkle evenly on top of the pan.

Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes. Slice and serve.