Ginger Cake With Ginger Cream

-GINGER SYRUP-
1 c Sugar
1 1/4 c Water
1 oz Ginger root stem, peeled and
Rough chopped

-GINGER CREAM-
1 c Heavy cream
1/4 c Sugar
2 tb Finely chopped candied
Ginger
8 Mint sprigs, for garnish
8 sm Pieces of candied ginger,
For garnish

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan. Combine
the egg yolks and 3/4 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl, and whisk until
thick and light in color. Stir in the vanilla. Beat the egg whites
and salt with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Add the
remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat until glossy, 15 to 20
seconds more. Incorporate 1/3 of the whites into the egg mixture.
Combine the flour and the ginger, mix well. Then sift 1/4 cup of
flour mixture over the egg mixture, and gently fold it in with a
spatula. Repeat, folding in whites and flour mixture until the last
of the batch of flour is nearly incorporated. Then fold in the melted
butter. Pout the batter into the prepared pan, and bake just until
the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30
minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and remove from the pan.

Whip the sugar and cream until soft peaks form. Remove the cake from
the pan, and place on a pretty plate. Using a pastry brush, moisten
the cake with the ginger syrup. Fold the finely chopped ginger into
the whipped cream, and ice the cake with the cream. Decorate with
candied ginger and mint. Dust with powdered sugar.

Ginger syrup: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 15
minutes. Cool and use the syrup to moisten cakes, sweeten tea, or
over your ice cream.

Nutritional information per serving: xx calories, xx gm protein, xxx
mg cholesterol, xx gm carbohydrate, xxx mg sodium, x gm fiber, xx gm
fat (x gm sat, x gm mono, x gm poly), x mg iron, xx mg calcium, xx%
of calories from fat.