Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

Dark, most and spicy, this cake has it all. It keeps well, too, so it’s ideal when you’re feeding a crowd at holiday time. We love the rich molasses glaze on this cake, but feel free to use your favourite glaze (the one from the Hot Cross Buns recipe would be a simple substitute) or just serve the cake plain, if you prefer.

MAKES: one 9-inch Bundt cake; 10 to 12 servings

PREP TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 to 45 minutes Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup fancy molasses
• 1 cup hot water
• Molasses Glaze
• ¼ cup icing sugar, sifted
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp fancy molasses
• 1 Tbsp whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch Bundt pan, then dust it with flour. Set aside.
2. For the cake, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then beat in the molasses.
4. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with the hot water, making three additions of flour and two of water, and beginning and ending with the flour. Stir until well combined.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Invert a serving plate on top of the pan. Flip over the plate and pan to remove the cake from the pan. Remove the pan, then let the cake cool completely on the plate.
7. For the molasses glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, butter, molasses, milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl until smooth.
8. Pour the glaze over the cake, letting it drizzle down the side. Let the glaze set before serving. (The cake can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.)

CHANGE IT UP

• If you’re not a fan of cloves or nutmeg, simply omit them. The cake will still taste spicy good.
• Add a touch of citrus to this spicy cake by adding the finely grated zest of 1 orange along with the molasses in Step 3.