Gingerbread Cake – My Baking Habit

Gingerbread cake is wealthy, moist, and stuffed with ginger taste. Serve this vacation traditional with whipped cream and caramel sauce for a dessert that’s positive to be successful together with your company.

Do you will have a group of inherited cookbooks like my household? We’ve got so many who belonged to my Nana.

A few of them are stuffed with all the things that was terrible about meals within the ’50s (I’m you, sizzling canine jello salad), and superb concerning the following many years, like this gingerbread cake.

After I’m lacking my Nana or I’m caught for a brand new recipe thought, I prefer to thumb by these outdated cookbooks for nostalgia and inspiration.

They by no means appear to disappoint, I can inform you that a lot.

(Though what I wish to know is, who truly ate that sizzling canine salad factor? Gross. We normally make an enormous deal in our home about not yucking anybody else’s yums, however I draw the road at combining jello and meat merchandise, sorry 1957.)

One factor that’s undoubtedly yum for nearly everyone seems to be a cake like this one. It’s a traditional, and for good cause.

My traditional gingerbread cake recipe

This recipe has a little bit of an attention-grabbing historical past.

Whereas flipping by an outdated cookbook, a random handwritten notecard with a model of this recipe fell out.

At first, I assumed it should be one in all my Nana’s recipes. In any case, she was well-known for her vacation baking, making all the things from pumpkin rolls to tins of peanut brittle yearly.

After I requested my Aunt Debbie, although, she stated that it wasn’t Nana’s handwriting. Nana and her coworkers used to swap recipes on a regular basis, so we predict it should have come from one in all her work buddies.

Properly, I like gingerbread all the things, whether or not it’s gingerbread cookies or gingersnaps or gingerbread crinkle cookies. So I needed to give this recipe a attempt. I made just a few tweaks and fell in love with this flavorful cake.

This recipe is certainly an old-school traditional; there are variations of it obtainable all around the web, which tells me that many handwritten recipe playing cards should have been shared years in the past.

To essentially play up the ginger taste, I take advantage of two full teaspoons of floor ginger on this cake. I additionally will generally add chopped crystallized ginger to the batter, giving it an incredible texture in addition to one other hit of that zippy, spicy ginger.

This cake makes a simple Christmas dessert, good for once you wish to serve one thing completely scrumptious with out placing in a ton of effort.

How you can make this gingerbread cake

This can be a completely easy, no-frills cake recipe, very similar to my eggless chocolate cake. 

However don’t let that idiot you into pondering it isn’t past flavorful! This gingerbread cake simply doesn’t must be dressed as much as make an enormous impression.

Components you’ll want

To make this cake, you have to:

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup room-temperature unsalted butter 
• 1 frivolously overwhelmed egg 
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup unsulfured molasses
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 2 ½ teaspoons floor cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons floor ginger
• ¾ teaspoon floor cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sizzling water
• ½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (elective)

Earlier than you begin baking, be sure to know the best way to measure flour appropriately. It will assist your gingerbread cake end up good each time. 

Slightly little bit of applesauce helps this cake keep moist, whereas unsulfured molasses provides it a wealthy sweetness and the attribute gingerbread shade. Be sure you are utilizing common unsulfured molasses, not blackstrap molasses.

I like pairing ginger with cinnamon and cloves for the right steadiness of spices on this cake. When you actually love that ginger kick, add in some finely chopped crystallized ginger. It provides nice texture and and an additional layer of ginger taste to the cake. 

Making this recipe

One of the vital uncommon issues about this recipe is the addition of sizzling water on the very finish. However hey, that’s a retro recipe for ya!

To make this gingerbread cake, begin by beating the butter and sugar till gentle and fluffy, then including the eggs, applesauce and molasses. 

If you’re new to baking, I recommend reviewing the best way to cream butter and sugar collectively. This can be a easy step that may make an enormous distinction within the texture of your baked items.

At this level the batter would possibly look slightly bizarre, virtually curdled. Don’t freak out – it’ll come collectively in the long run.

Then whisk collectively the dry elements: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Slowly add this to the moist elements till simply mixed.

After the dry elements are added, stir within the sizzling water till the batter is easy. Sure, after the dry elements!

Truthfully, I don’t even know the why behind this step. All I do know is it makes for a tremendous moist texture on this cake, and that’s all I care about on the finish of the day.

When you’re utilizing the crystallized ginger, go forward and fold it in earlier than pouring the batter right into a greased and floured 9-inch cake pan. You need to use a sq. pan or spherical pan, or bake it in a springform pan to chop the ultimate cake into wedges.

Bake the gingerbread cake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted within the middle of the cake comes out clear with just some crumbs clinging to it.

Let the cake cool earlier than slicing and serving.

Storage ideas

Retailer this gingerbread cake coated at room temperature for as much as 3 days. As a result of it’s a very moist cake, I don’t advocate retaining it a lot previous 3 days, however you could possibly lengthen this to 4-5 if you happen to retailer it within the fridge.

You could possibly additionally freeze the cake, both complete or in slices. 

To freeze the entire cake, wrap the cooled cake in a layer of plastic wrap adopted by a layer of industrial quality foil. Wrap particular person slices in a layer of plastic wrap and place them in a zip-top freezer bag.

Freeze for 1-2 months. Thaw at room temperature for a few hours earlier than having fun with.

For more information on this course of, try my publish on the best way to freeze cake.  

Serving recommendations

There are many choices in the case of topping your gingerbread cake.

A dusting of powdered sugar is an easy and stylish approach to go. You can too serve it with do-it-yourself whipped cream or salted caramel sauce, and even eggnog ice cream!

When you’re feeling additional fancy, attempt making some sugared cranberries for a festive and scrumptious garnish.

It doesn’t matter what you serve with this gingerbread cake, it’ll be an enormous hit together with your company!