11.19.18
Are you ready? Have you prepped your Thanksgiving pants with the elastic waistband? Have you come to terms that you’re going to have to interact with Uncle Stan on Thursday and therefore should stockpile some booze? It’s the week of Thanksgiving and I’m doing my best to give you a few more dessert recipes right under the wire! If you’re having a smaller gathering, this mini ginger cakes could be the best way to end your meal. They look incredibly impressive but are just made out of a sheet cake! The pumpkins may look like a labor of love but honestly they’re as easy as pie (pecan please!). If you’re not into piping small leaves, then just forgo them and save yourself a little extra work. This is a dessert that will truly bring everyone together in love and flavor.
Ginger cake was high on my to-do list because I’d never made one. It’s perfectly moist (the batter is very wet so don’t be scared!), and is full of rich deep molasses and ginger flavor that instantly reminds you of the holiday season. If you’re in a bind for a potluck dessert, this can easily be left as a sheet cake and frosted as you desire. I was surprised at how I couldn’t stop going back for more.
I’m hoping to post one more fun little bite-sized dessert for you before Thursday, so keep your eyes peeled. I’m also extremely excited to bake a ton of desserts for two Friendsgivings this week. If I don’t loose my mind, follow my Insta story to see what I’m up to. Although it may be even more fun to watch if I slowly go insane. Toodles!
Ginger Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- zest from 2 oranges, separated
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp all spice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup molasses
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup finely diced fresh peeled ginger
For the Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4-5 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 – 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon*
- 2-3 tbsp milk
For the Pumpkins
- 2 tbsp reserved buttercream frosting
- 6 whole cloves
- marzipan
- orange food coloring
- green food coloring
Instructions
For the Cake
- In a small bowl, mix together the white granulated sugar and zest from one of the oranges, mix until fragrance is released and the sugar is moistened by the zest, set aside
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and spices, set aside
- In a medium sauce pan, bring water to a boil, then add in baking soda and molasses and stir until molasses is melted, remove from heat
- Preheat oven to 350
- In the bowl of a stand up mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and both sugars together
- Add in egg, then diced ginger and zest from second orange
- Alternate adding in molasses mix and flour, beginning and ending with molasses
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix on low another 10 seconds to make sure it’s fully combined
- Grease and flour a 9×13 pan **
- Pour batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes
- Cake tester should come out of center clean, and the cake should spring bake when touched
- Allow to cool fully before cutting and frosting
- Once cool, cut cakes using a biscuit or cookie cutter (I used a 3″ size) and stamp out individual cakes, you should get 6 if using the same size I did
- Slice cakes horizontally
For the Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand up mixer, beat butter, milk and sugar together
- Once desired consistency is reached, remove 2 tbsp of frosting and set aside, add in cinnamon to stand up mixer bowl of frosting, beat to incorporate
- Transfer frosting to piping bag and pipe frosting onto bottom halves of cakes***
- Place the top halves of cake on frosting and frost the tops
- Pipe frosting along the sides and clean up with straight edge, such as a bench scraper
- Using a spoon or offset spatula start from the center and turn cake stand, moving spoon towards the edge of cake to create spiral look
- If desired, chill for 15 minutes and pipe remaining frosting on sides of cake for a more polished look
For the Pumpkins
- Add a small amount of orange food gel to marzipan and roll around until all is dyed evenly
- Cut into smaller pieces and roll each into a ball
- Gently push your finger into the center of the ball to give an oblong shape
- Take a toothpick and press into the sides of pumpkin to create ridges
- Stick clove into the top for stem
- Mix reserved frosting with green gel food coloring
- Transfer almost all to piping bag with leaf tip
- Pipe leaves onto pumpkins
- Take small amount remaining, transfer to piping bag with just the very tip cut off and pipe vines on the pumpkin and cake if desired
P.S.
*start with 1/2 a tsp and add more according to taste preference
**I prefer not to do this until right before I pour batter into pans, otherwise flour can slide down as the kitchen warms up and melts the butter in the pan
***If you do not plan to frost the sides of the cakes, dollop frosting along the edges for a cleaner look, if you plan on frosting the edges, pipe however you’d like
