It’s been a while since our last post, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been baking and developing new recipes! (quite the opposite, actually). And now that we’re hurtling towards the rest of the holiday season, we figured that it was about time for something a bit more festive, leading us to Kendra’s Soft Gingerbread Cake. If you’ve ever been sadly disappointed in rock-hard gingerbread cookies or stale gingerbread people, this cake is for you. I distinctly remember making and then smashing gingerbread houses as a kid and always being massively let down by the flat slabs of “gingerbread” that I gingerly picked out of the rubble. For an easier, less-long-lasting version, take a stab at this pillow-soft, earthy, warm gingerbread cake that is sure to spice up any chilly evening. You can serve it with or without the extra glaze, totally up to you.
Another reason to make this delicate yet overwhelmingly spiced seasonal cake is to show off any fancy shmancy bundt pans you happen to have collected over the years. This time last year, I was making this in a standard loaf pan, but we’ve upgraded this year and are absolutely thrilled with the precision and whimsy that our new bundt pan exhibits. Anything works though! Heck, you can make this in muffin tins if you want individual gingerbread cakes for those special guests of yours. The presentation is one of the best parts of baking and completely changes the way your taste-testers approach it. Whether it’s a clean cut swirl molded by heavy cast iron or the curves of bundt pan buttresses, or the delicate carvings of mini-molds, you’re sure to have a spectacular dessert that is both ancient and humble, rooted in heaps of spices and thick, black strap molasses.
It struck me as odd, while I was measuring out the multitude of spices required for this cake, that most things ginger are quite a bit darker than the food or dried/ground spice itself. Ginger anything should be light gold, or brighter watery yellow if it’s fresh. But gingerbread or ginger snaps or soft ginger cookies or this cake are all deeply russet, weighty with the darker tones of usually-accompanying ingredients like molasses, brown sugar, cloves, and allspice. Ginger shines in flavor but is quickly dominated by its more vibrant comrades in baking. At least we can still celebrate the sharpness of its bite in each mouthful of this! Do what tastes good!
Gluten Free Soft Gingerbread Cake
Equipment
- 10-cup bundt cake pan
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 Cups gluten free flour 1-1 mix
- 1/2 Cup almond meal
- 2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp each: ground allspice, cloves, salt
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 Cup room-temp salted butter
- 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 Cup molasses
- 3/4 Cup milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the glaze (optional):
- 2 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 Cup plus 1 tsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Grease a 10-12 cup bundt pan with butter, set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the room temp butter with the brown sugar until lighter and fluffy. Add in the eggs, molasses, milk, and vanilla, and beat until combined. Set aside. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients (the flour, almond meal, spices, baking powder and soda, and salt) and then dump dry ingredients into the wet and stir together using a baking spatula until combined.
- Pour the batter evenly into the greased bundt pan and gently shake to even out the mixture all the way around the pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a butter knife inserted in the deepest part of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a plate or serving platter.
- While the cake is cooling, make the glaze (optional). In a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar, milk, ginger, and vanilla and stir together vigorously until no lumps remain.
- Pour glaze over cake (you’ll have extra for serving) and then serve!
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cake!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
3 Comments
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Tristan
I love gingerbread and this is perfectly spiced and rich while still being silky and soft
Keith Farber
Love the rich flavor and cake like texture of this one. Stays moist with just the right amount of ginger ping. Holds its shape well and just as tasty a couple days later, although it usually doesn’t stay that long on the cake plate in our house!