Gingerbread Snack Cake
By Ronni LundyPublished on October 18, 2022
Time
1½ hours, plus 3 hours cooling
Yield
Serves 10 to 12
Ingredients
Before You Begin
If you can't find sorghum syrup, you can substitute molasses—just make sure it's not blackstrap. We like the complexity of a bitter orange marmalade—such as the one made by Bonne Maman—in this snack cake; do not substitute a sweet marmalade. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before cutting, if desired.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Whisk flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cocoa, salt, and pepper together in bowl. Whisk buttermilk, coffee, and marmalade in second bowl until smooth.
- Using stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and crystallized ginger and beat until smooth. Add sorghum syrup and oil and beat until uniform.
- Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping down bowl as needed, and mix until just combined. Add buttermilk mixture and mix until smooth. Give batter final stir by hand. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with rubber spatula. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (cake will spring back when touched and sides will begin to come away from pan).
- Transfer cake to wire rack and let cool completely, about 3 hours. Cut into squares and serve.
Time
1½ hours, plus 3 hours coolingYield
Serves 10 to 12Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
Appalachian bakers love gingerbread, and their cookbooks abound with recipes for all kinds. This tender, gingery snack cake is big on flavor and low on fuss. We started with the late Karen Barker's Not-Afraid-of-Flavor Gingerbread recipe, adding flavors of our own, including cocoa and orange marmalade. Sweet sorghum syrup added a buttery resonance plain molasses lacks. The surprising additions of brewed coffee and black pepper layered in a subtle bitterness and spiciness that balanced the cake's sweetness. Malinda Russell calls for sour milk or sour cream in most of her gingerbread and cake recipes where Karen Barker called for orange juice, so we mixed together orange marmalade and buttermilk. You can cut squares of this irresistibly snackable cake straight out of the pan or dress it up with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar.
Before You Begin
If you can't find sorghum syrup, you can substitute molasses—just make sure it's not blackstrap. We like the complexity of a bitter orange marmalade—such as the one made by Bonne Maman—in this snack cake; do not substitute a sweet marmalade. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before cutting, if desired.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Whisk flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cocoa, salt, and pepper together in bowl. Whisk buttermilk, coffee, and marmalade in second bowl until smooth.
- Using stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and crystallized ginger and beat until smooth. Add sorghum syrup and oil and beat until uniform.
- Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping down bowl as needed, and mix until just combined. Add buttermilk mixture and mix until smooth. Give batter final stir by hand. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with rubber spatula. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (cake will spring back when touched and sides will begin to come away from pan).
- Transfer cake to wire rack and let cool completely, about 3 hours. Cut into squares and serve.
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