| Yield: | Serves 10-12 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup unsulphured dark molasses
- 3/4 cup flavorful honey, such as a dark wildflower, berry or chestnut
- 1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup partly skimmed milk (2 percent)
- 1 packed tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
- Lightly sweetened whipped cream, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper that has been cut to hang over two opposite edges by a couple of inches. This overhang will make removing the cake from the pan clean and simple.
- Combine the butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar in a medium non-reactive saucepan and place over low heat. Stir the mixture frequently until the butter is melted, and all of the ingredients are well blended. Remove from the heat, pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves, and set aside. When the molasses mixture feels just warm to the touch, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk and stir to combine. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter in four additions, using big, long strokes. Don’t be concerned if you can’t get all the lumps out–settle for most of them! Stir in the grated ginger.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then, using the overhang of parchment, lift the cake out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting. Well-wrapped in plastic, this gingerbread actually improves with age. If stored at room temperature, it will have a sponge-cakey texture and will keep for about 4 days. Refrigerated, it becomes stickier, denser, and wonderfully chewy and will last at least a week. Allow the cake to return to room temperature before serving. This cake is fabulous warm, and the only adornment it needs is mounds of softly whipped cream.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 410 |
| Total Fat | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 60 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 35 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 87 mg |
| Sodium | 294 mg |
Reviews
This is my favourite gingerbread cake, and it just gets better over a few days! It does make a lot of batter, so watch it when you pour it in (it also rises quite high) and be prepared that it might not all fit. NOTE: every time I’ve made it, 70 minutes has been enough time.
This recipe requires DOUBLE the pan space listed. It ran over the edges of the first pan I made and the whole house stank of burnt molasses. After the oven was cleaned I tried the recipe again thinking I had screwed something up. Nope. Overflow, burning and horrible smell. Whatever was left in the pan did bake up nicely and was by far the most delicious gingerbread ever.
I substitute W/W pastry flour and date sugar cup for cup. It doesn’t all fit in a single 9X9 so use a Pyrex 9X13X2 and bake for 50 minutes.
I baked it as directed for 1 hr 15 minutes and it burnt! I’d recommend adjusting the baking time and keeping and eye on it. The batter tasted phenomenal though, so I was very disappointed that I had to throw it out.
This recipe looks complicated, but it’s actually very easy and well worth it. It is my absolute favorite gingerbread recipe and everyone loved it. It was gone in no time.
This is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted. The bread is dark and rich and full of ginger flavor. To say it is moist is an understatement; refrigerated it is thick and chewy. I doubled the recipe with no problems and had enough batter for three 9-inch bread pans and one 4-inch mini-loaf. It was a bit time-consuming to make but otherwise easy to prepare and very much worth the effort. I will make this beautiful recipe for years to come!