A moist and fluffy cake- flavored with molasses and spiced with ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Brown sugar gives some notes of caramel and brown butter a deeply toasted nuttiness. Sourdough discard adds a lovely tenderness to the crumb. I love to serve this with whipped lemon curd, or spoonfuls of freshly whipped cream.
Sourdough Gingerbread Cake
Description
Adapted from Clever Carrot
Ingredients
Flour Mixture
300 g (2 cups) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
Sour Cream Mixture
200 g (1 cup) sour cream
2 large eggs
60 g sourdough discard or active starter (about 1/4– 1/3 cup)
Molasses Mixture
180 g (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter
220 g (3/4 cup) molasses- (or 120 grams molasses + 120 grams sorghum syrup)
200 g (1 cup packed) light brown sugar
240 g (1 cup) water
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C. Line a 9×13 inch/ 23×33 cm baking pan with parchment paper.
- Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.
- Whisk the sour cream, eggs and sourdough discard together; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula, until it turns light golden brown (not dark brown). Remove pan from the heat.
- To the pan of melted butter (off heat): add the molasses, brown sugar, water, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla extract. Whisk to dissolve the sugar. The texture will be runny.
- Add the flour mixture to the pan. Whisk to combine. It will be lumpy at first; this is OK.
- Add the sour cream mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.
- Bake on the center rack for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick (or dry spaghetti strand) comes out clean when inserted.
- Remove from the oven. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling (just lift it out of the pan using the parchment paper overhang as handles).
- To serve, dust with powered sugar and cut into squares. Alternatively, serve with whipped cream and raspberries.
For The Whipped Cream: Pour the heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the powdered sugar. Run the machine on medium-high until soft peaks form.
Gingerbread Storage Notes: Cover cake (in pan) with foil and store at room temperature, up to 3 days. Make sure the foil doesn’t touch the surface of the cake; it will stick to the top. Leftovers can be wrapped tightly and frozen. Reheat gently to serve.
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