recipe-a-week #29: gingerbread cake, & more pumpkin goodness

Here's our back door (which will be replaced, hopefully soon - we're waiting for a body shop to paint the new one this same red for us.) But look at the Fall cuteness! Oh, what's that on the big pumpkin? Our house number!The numbers are outdoor self-adhesive decals from Home Depot. I picked them up when we were in Saint John over the summer, not knowing what I was going to do with them. I think they were $1.49 each. This is the cutest, and easiest pumpkin project, ever. Even easier than the glittered gourds. If you don't have a front door on a busy street where someone is likely to smash your pumpkin, you could put it on your front step.
On to the recipe - I made this cake last week, and we ate the whole thing in no time. I've had this recipe in my repertoire for about seven years now, and I always go to it for a slightly spicy, perfectly crumby fall cake. With a dollop (or two) of sweetened whipped cream on top, it is perfect. And it takes about 3 minutes to get together and in the oven. My kind of cake.
Favourite Old-Fashioned Gingerbread
(original recipe here)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup hot water

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan (I don't think this would be quite large enough. I have an odd sized glass Pyrex dish with deep sides that does the trick.)
• In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake 1 hour (or a bit longer) in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving. YUM!

I love autumn, can you tell?

One more miscellaneous thing: if you have kids around 10 or so (or younger and curious) The Eleventh Hour is a wonderful book to keep them busy on a rainy day. I remember reading it for hours when I was a kid at my surrogate grandmother's house, and recently found a copy at Frenchy's. It's a mystery that needs to be solved using clues hidden in the fantastically detailed drawings throughout the book, and there's a sealed section at the back of the book with the answers (which we were never allowed to open as kids, and I still haven't looked at them). If you have a kid who likes that kind of thing, you should get them a copy for Christmas.