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.