11.09.2011

gingerbread cake


Have I got a treat for you! This is my go-to fall / winter cake. It is absolutely delicious (a must, of course), super quick to put together (10 minutes), and it makes the house smell incredible. (Yes, there's an abundance of italics. I love this cake!) It's also a perfect vehicle for whipped cream. It's moist and slightly spicy and just plain wonderful. And if you have molasses in your house (I understand that it's not a default item in some places! Craziness!) you probably have everything to whip one up right now. The original recipe is here.

Oh - one more note about molasses in case you don't usually buy it - you're looking for the fancy kind. No, really - it's called "Fancy Molasses". You don't want blackstrap. And heaven forbid you see that 'light' stuff on the shelf. Leave it right there.

Gingerbread Cake
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup hot water
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Greased and flour (important!) one 9 inch square pan.
  2. Cream together the sugar and butter. Add egg, and beat well. Mix in the molasses.
  3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and clove. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; add the hot water, and mix well.
  4. Pour batter into pan and bake for one hour, more or less. Start checking with a toothpick in the centre around 50 minutes. The top tends to darken quickly, so I always put a piece of foil tented over the top during baking. Allow to cool in pan and serve with copious amounts of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

13 comments:

  1. OH MY!!! This looks amazing!! We will be having this in the VERY near future!!

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  2. Looks so good, in the past I have made Martha Stewart's gingerbread, but this looks richer. I think I will also make a lemon sauce to go with. YUM!!!

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  3. Jenn, I think you should! Hope you're well!

    Bethie, lemon sauce would be lovely with it - great idea. Let me know how you like it!

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  4. It looks scrum-diddly-umptious!

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  5. My mother always says that gingerbread should be served with lashings of whipped cream. It is law at family gatherings. This recipe looks awfully tasty, and since Rosie hasn't shared our family recipe yet, I just might have to try yours!

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  6. I need to make this! It looks so incredible. Thanks!!!

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  7. Oh my goodness- gingerbread goodness that is! I'm hungry just looking at your wonderful pictures!

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  8. Have just slid this into the oven....mixing a cup of water into the batter was the weirdest thing- never done that before- but it came out looking so creamy and smooth! Looking forward to pudding tonight!

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  9. Oh, I hope you enjoyed it, Jessicah! :) I know what you mean about the water - it was the first cake I made like that, too. But it works! :)

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    1. It was delicious- just making it again to take to a friends tonight! This one is going off the back of a receipt and into the recipe book!

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  10. This looks delicious! Will be making it this week!

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  11. Just wanted to say i won first place at our local cook off with this dessert! Filled it with eggnog frosting and then covered in cream cheese frosting! Thanks!!

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    1. Amanda, that's AWESOME! I can't imagine anything better than egnog frosting - what a great idea. And more frosting? I love it! Congratulations on the win!

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Thanks so much for your comments - I read and appreciate each one! Sorry about the word verification - the spammers found me and it became necessary. Thanks for taking the time to comment!