Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

Last Christmas I made a gingerbread cake and wanted to make the same one this year for Ryan's family Christmas party. Unfortunately I didn't post the recipe and couldn't remember where I saved it. After some looking around on the internet and in my saved files, I finally decided I made this one posted on allrecipes. After I made it, I flipped through some of the reviews and realized it wasn't exactly the same- I had made some of the modifications they suggested. So for the Christmas Eve party at the Wright house, I searched through my STACKS of recipes and found the printed copy where I made all the changes. (As a side note - we got 7 cookbooks for Christmas at our house this year!- 4 for Adria and 3 for me) Because Adria was doing dairy free I made a couple of other changes this year. So for comparison sake here are the recipes I made:

Original Recipe                                Modified Recipe 

Strong Molasses flavor                    Spicier (more flavorful)

Darker color                                      lighter color

1/2 cup sugar                                   1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter                                  1/2 c butter

1 egg                                                   1 egg

1 cup molasses                               3/4 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour         2  1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda       1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon    2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger           2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves      1/2 teaspoon cloves (this year I did 1 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon salt                        1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (this year I did 1 tsp)

1 cup hot water                             1/2 teaspoon salt

                                                          1/4 c hot water

                                                           1 c buttermilk (this year I did all water)

                                                         5 to 6 TBSP crystallized ginger (forgot it

                                                         this yr)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan. Cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses. Add the spices and salt. Mix in the flour then stir in the hot water. Pour into the pan. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.  (The modified recipe only cooks for 45 minutes - I think I only cooked the original recipe for 50 minutes.)

The modified recipe cracked more on the top when I made it. Not really sure why. Guess I need to do more studying on the chemistry of cooking! 

I made dairy free caramel for Adria too - it turned out well:

13.5 oz coconut milk 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1 tsp pure vanilla 

1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)

Combine coconut milk and brown sugar in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Let it boil for around 3-4 minutes, stirring continuously, then lower to a simmer. Let it simmer—stirring as needed—until it cooks down to about half its volume and thickens. This usually takes around 50-60 minutes, Turn off the heat, stir in the vanilla and salt, and let it sit for about an hour. Cover and refrigerate overnight – it continues to thicken as it sits.