Thanksgiving season is my favorite. The days get crisper, the anticipation is in the air of the holidays in December to-come, and everyone pays attention to sharing meals together a little more. The perfect time to sit down and connect. Which is why I was so excited to make dessert for a Shabbat dinner in Boston my friend was hosting this past week. I’ll take any opportunity to break bread with new and old friends alike. Which is exactly how the Shabbat ceremony ends as the meal begins.

I had personally never been to a Shabbat before, but I admired the sentiment to end the week and celebrate all the good things in your life with an overflowing cup. It’s a great ritual to have, and I appreciate having been a part of it.

To create the feeling of truly sharing the meal and ending the evening together, I created desserts that would force the crowd to dig in to the pan and not serve it plated or cut slices for them. The first was a chocolate pudding cake adapted from Salted Plains that was spooned out from the pan right over top a scoop of vanilla ice cream, caramelized peanuts, and salted caramel sauce. It featured dark milk chocolate from Michel Cluizel which balances a higher cocoa content with the nutty richness of milk flavor profile. An extraordinary chocolate which I highly recommend. I’ll share this recipe later on, because I’m pretty excited about it. But I’m here to chat about the second dessert. I made a skillet cake that was heavily spiced with molasses caramel at the bottom and toasted pine nuts on top. Dig in and break through the cake right down to the flavorful bottom of the cast iron skillet.

I love the functionality that cast iron skillets lend to dishes and desserts like this. I chatted about the magic of the skillet here with a giant chocolate chip cookie to share, and it’s definitely worth recapping here.

Cast iron pans are made of, no surprise here, iron! An incredible element. Iron has a really high heat capacity. This basically means that it takes more energy to heat up, but that it also holds more energy than other cooking materials. And that heat stays there for a long time. This is doubled by the fact that iron has a really high emissivity. Emissivity is essentially a measure of how well a material gives off heat. This is pretty easy to experience if you hold a hand above a steel pan versus a cast iron pan. You will barely feel any heat above a steel pan. In fact, cast iron is nine times higher in its emissivity than steel. Put together a high heat capacity and a high emissivity and you’ve got yourself some heating power!

Cast iron pans subsequently create some pretty amazing effects on your food when you cook it. The high amount of heat cooks food extremely quickly on the outside lending a crisp crust while slowly heating the inside. That’s what makes cast iron the pan of choice for steaks. And cookies! Just imagine breaking through a crispy exterior to get to the fudgy, warm, golden center. Are you drooling yet? I thought so.

So please, do yourself a favor and make this baby for Thanksgiving or the holiday season beyond to share this dessert moment as it should be shared. Spoons all in.

Skillet Spice Cake with Gooey Caramel Bottom

Note: I made this cake as a 12-inch skillet, but as most people have a 10-inch cast-iron, here is the recipe at that measure. Serves 8

Adapted from Food52 Baking

Salted Caramel Bottom

¼ cup (50 g) dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons molasses

½ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Cake

¼ cup (35 g) pine nuts

1 ⅓ cups (165 g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ cup (150 g) dark brown sugar

6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter

⅔ cup (160 mL) molasses

⅔ cup (160 mL) whole milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Make the caramel first. Put the brown sugar, butter, molasses, and salt in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Put the skillet in the oven for about 5 minutes, until the butter melts. Stir the mixture until well combined.
3. Spread the pine nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them in the oven until golden brown, 5-7 minutes, keeping a close eye on them to prevent burning.
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, ginger, pepper, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.
5. Combine the brown sugar, butter, and molasses in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the butter melts. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Carefully pour batter over the caramel mixture in the skillet, gently spreading it in an even layer. Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the batter.
6. Bake for 15-30 minutes, until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out nearly clean. Let cool in the skillet for a few minutes.
7. Eat from the skillet at the table, or cut the cake into wedges and serve warm.