Courtney Bakes: Gingerbread Cake!

About a week ago I was watching TV with my dad (or something else, I don't really remember, but the setting isn't super important anyways) and he said "it's been years since I've had gingerbread cake. With whipped cream. Out of a box. That would be delicious." 

And then the conversation progressed to something else, and the idea of gingerbread cake was lost.

Until Wednesday when I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and saw the cutest gingerbread man cake pan. And I bought it because it was $5 on sale and I couldn't resist. And then I found myself with this adorable cake pan and needed to use it, because otherwise why on earth did I buy the darn thing. So, with my dad's long-forgotten request in mind, I spent a good hour researching a bunch of gingerbread cake recipes. After figuring out what I wanted to do based on the countless recipes on Pinterest, AllRecipes, and more I set off to the store and bought what I was missing.

Then I crossed my fingers and hoped that my self-designed, from scratch, homemade Gingerbread Cake recipe would pass the test of my dad who really just wanted it "out of the box." 

And, I stand here today to tell you it did! (or, rather, sit her and type to you, either way) And it was amazing. So, of course I have to share it with you in time for the holidays. My house smelled amazing, hopefully yours will too when you make this!

Ingredients

1/2 Cup White Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter

1 Egg

1 Cup Molasses

2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose White Flour

1 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon*

2 Tsp Ground Ginger*

1 Tsp Ground Clove *

1 1/2 Tsp Ground Nutmeg*

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Cup Hot Water

* These are approximations. I am heavy handed with my spices and used these measurements as a gauge to start with. Next time I'll probably add a little more for a little spicier of a cake. So, spice as you feel necessary. Okay?

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees F (175 Degrees C, if you're metrically inclined). Grease a 9 inch square pan (or use a really, really cute gingerbread man pan if you can find one like I did. Mine was silicone, and as such required no greasing - but I did it anyways, because I'm paranoid about stuff like that. The short of it is, you know how to deal with your own pans, act accordingly. However, 9" square is about the amount of batter you'll have.).

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and the sugar (I had to look up what "cream together" meant - here's what I did: I chopped the butter into little cubes and then with my clean, washed hands, smushed it all together until it was a uniform sandy consistancy. Not sure if that's what cream together means, but it worked out perfectly for me. So there.). It will kinda look like this:

3. Beat in the egg and then stir in the Molasses. It will look pretty and goopy like this: 

4.  In another bowl mix (sift, maybe if you have the patience or the mechanics) together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and salt. Like this:

5. Now, mix the flour mixture into the molasses mixture. It'll get all crumbly (and taste delicious if you want to try a bit. Not that I support eating raw eggs. It's your decision on that front. I'm just saying mine was tasty). It'll look a bit like this after:

6. Here's the weird step. Once all that stuff is mixed together stir in the cup of hot water. It'll look weird and you'll probably be asking me if I have my head screwed on straight. I do, I promise. This works. Remember, end result = delicious. Here is proof of what it will look like after this:

7. Spread it into your chosen pan. Recipes call for up to an hour of baking. I checked at 30 mins (remember, I used a silicone pan) and then every five minutes until a knife stuck in it came out clean. So take it out when it's ready to come out. It'll look like this once you've taken it out and sliced off a piece or two:

So, there you go. Enjoy this okay? It really, really is delicious.

I do think, and you can try this on your first try if you want, but I make no promises, that I am going to either add a 1/2 cup of apple sauce or sour cream next time to make it a little more moist. This was delicious, but I do love a more moist cake. So, that's that if you want.