Femme Fatale Gingerbread

There are Mystery Girls and there are Femmes Fatale.

From yesterday's A2, Philippa Hawker's review of the Nancy Drew movie, "An Inconvenient Sleuth":

"A Mystery Girl is a solver of puzzles and a challenger, in her own way, of the status quo. She is the child who questions the parents' actions, who refuses to consent to or accomodate the darker compromises of the adult world. She is defined by naivety and curiosity, a volatile and unsettling mix. She usually appears to be well-behaved and conformist, yet is frequently reckless, driven by the need to know. This can be seen, to some extent, as the curiosity of the child who has not yet been initiated into the adult world, who lacks sexual experience but is overburdened with curiosity about it. Sometimes she stumbles, unwittingly, into a single, overwhelming mystery; sometimes she makes a habit of coming across crimes and puzzles.
"The Mystery Girl is the opposite of the femme fatale, the archetypal figure of female enigma - knowing, duplicitous and dangerous, using and manipulating her sexual power. The femme fatale is often doomed to death; the plucky Mystery Girl generally survives. The two characters are not necessarily antagonists, however; the Mystery Girl sometimes finds herself trying to help a femme fatale or untangle a puzzle that involves a compromised female figure. This is the case, for example, in the new Nancy Drew movie..."

Of course, these kinds of dichotomies are often more trouble than they're worth, but I couldn't help thinking of the Veronica Mars vs Jessica Rabbit binary this morning as I was making this date and ginger loaf. Like the classic femme fatale, she is immaculate-looking, dark and fragrant. She is sweet but with a spiciness that hints at a deeper mystery (is that a hint of black pepper?). And, like all great mistresses of the dark art of seduction, she meets the stickiest of endings.

Femme Fatale Gingerbread (adapted from Margaret Fulton)

185g butter
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp black pepper
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup golden syrup
1 large egg
3 cups plain flour
1 cup milk + 1 tsp bicarb soda, dissolved together over a gentle heat
1 cup chopped pitted dates

Preheat oven to 170C and line a loaf tin. Cream the butter with the spices and ginger until very soft. Gradually add the sugar, beating until smooth. Add the golden syrup and mix in well. Lightly beat the egg and add gradually, beating until it is thoroughly incorporated. Sift the flour and fold into the basic mixture alternatively with the milk. Fold in the dates. Pour into the tin and bake for 1 hr 20 min or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the tin and cool on a cake rack.