Cake #12: Ginger Bread Cake

On March 7, I made the next cake in the All Cakes Considered cookbook. I didn't know what to expect with a ginger bread cake, since I haven't had much ginger bread in my life. But, the recipe was fairly easy and it ended up being mostly molasses. It should probably be called Molasses Cake with Ginger. I was going to a potluck, so I made 2 cakes- doubling the recipe and pouring the batter into 2 round cake pans, which worked fine. But I have learned that when you go to potlucks, desserts are among the most popular foods to bring, so your healthy looking plain brown cake is competing with things like brownies and pie and stuff with chocolate frosting and nuts! Not much got eaten, and having a whole cake at home, we took some to work. My co-workers only had positive things to say about the cake, and really, it is pretty good!

When doubled, the recipe calls for a cup of boiling water (I'm not sure why). It might not sound like much, but when you add it to the kitchen aid with all the other ingredients in there, you'll want to start the machine of really slowly to avoid a big mess!

Each cake calls for a stick of butter, and I think substituting applesauce would change the texture. The cake is best eaten about 1/2 hour out of the oven, the middle is warm and the "crust" is cripsy. It would be great with whip cream or ice cream. After it's room temp, you kind of lose the crispy crust, but it is still good, I don't know if a frosting would help it or not.