Ginger Pear Skillet Cake

I made this cake yesterday in our 10" cast iron skillet. I got the recipe from my Mom but I'm not sure where she got it; a magazine, I think. It has crystalized ginger, ground ginger and grated fresh ginger and yet it is not overpoweringly gingery. Be warned that I love ginger and my opinion may be skewed in favour of that particular rhizome. And this recipe call for molasses too. And I love molasses. As a teen I ate molasses with toast as per the suggestion on the side of the carton. I made one modification though and chose butter over bacon fat to spread on the toast. I even ordered the free recipe booklet by mail that was also offered on the other side of that same carton. That molasses recipe pamphlet took forever to be delivered. Go figure.

This cake also calls for buttermilk which is amazing because I wrote on my list of things to cook this week "bake something with buttermilk." Honestly. All too often have I purchased buttermilk for a particular recipe (like dressing - but c'mon there is only so much buttermilk dressing two people can go through!) and then the other 750 ml go to waste. This is a sin I wish no longer to commit! I've been scouring the stack of cookbooks for recipes that call for buttermilk. I've found a couple and one of them calls for self-rising flour, which I don't keep on hand usually. Next thing you know, I'll be out getting self-rising flour and then scouring...the cycle continues.