Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Holiday Gingerbread Cake


Inspired by Starbucks Holiday Gingerbread Loaf, this cake is quite similar to the one sold there. However, I'm not going to say it's an exact recipe, because it definitely is not. This variation may be baked in a loaf pan or a cake pan, and it looks beautiful with cream cheese frosting and candied orange bits on top.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup sliced ginger
  • 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
  • 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F , and place rack in center of oven. Butt

er and flour a square cake pan with

2 inch (5 cm) sides, or a loaf pan.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

In bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter

and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and molasses and beat to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients and milk, alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until incorporated. Fold in the sliced ginger pieces.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan a

nd smooth the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan. Let cool completely and then, if desired, frost with the cream cheese fro

sting and top with candied orange bits.


Cream Cheese Frosting with Candied Orange Bits:
  • 1 pkg cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup (50 mL) butter, softened
  • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla
  • 1 cup (250 mL) icing sugar
  • 3 Oranges
In bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Beat in icing sugar, one-third at a time, until smooth. Spread over top of cake.