Ginger Cake

This year, I thought of converting gingerbread cookies into ginger(bread) cake. It needs pretty much the same ingredients and tastes just as yummy. The only difference is you don't have to bite and devour little "men" anymore. You will instead chew on warm, soft cake. This cake was inspired from a recipe (rather a picture) I saw in - The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book.

Ingredients:

1. 1 stick butter (at room temperature)
2. 1/2 cup brown sugar
3. 1/2 cup molasses
4. 2 eggs (at room temperature)
5. 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
6. 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk
7. 1.5 cups all purpose flour 
8. 1 teaspoon baking soda
9. 2 teaspoons ground ginger
10. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
11. 1 teaspoon salt
12. 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
13. 1/4 teaspoon allspice
14. 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
15. 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
16. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
17. Finely cut crystallized (candied) ginger - 2 tablespoons
18. 1/4 cup maple syrup
19. 1 cup whipped cream

Preparation:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, salt, pepper, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and cardamom.
2. Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. 
3. Stir in the molasses. 
4. Then beat the eggs until smooth. Then add the vanilla extract. 
5. Slowly stir the dry ingredients in small batches until evenly combined (do not over stir/mix).
6. Stir the buttermilk and grated ginger into the batter. 
7. Pour the batter into a 8-9 inch spring form pan that is greased with butter and lined with parchment paper. 
8. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes until done.

To glaze/garnish the cake, mix 1 cup of whipped cream in 1/4 cup of maple syrup to get a smooth glaze. Pour/ladle it on top of the cooled ginger cake, and top it with the minced crystallized ginger. Although the cake itself was not as ginger-y or spicy as I wanted, the crystallized ginger bits added a wonderful crunch and a fresh ginger taste.