- Hey, I'm John Kanell and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making an easy, amazing gingerbread cake.
So let's get started.
First off, set your oven to 350
and line a nine-by-13-inch pan with parchment paper
or give it a good buttering.
Now, into a large bowl
I'm adding three cups or 360 grams of all-purpose flour.
I want 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder right now.
I also want a scant 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
This'll react with the acid and the molasses.
3/4 of a teaspoon of salt for contrast.
Of course, our gingerbread cake is full
of your favorite holiday spices.
I want two teaspoons of ginger.
One, two.
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, ground, not sticks.
A very nice addition is half a teaspoon of cloves.
Ah, so nice.
Very, very strong.
If you'd like, you could add any of your favorites.
1/4 teaspoon of cardamom, some allspice.
They are all gonna be really nice in this cake.
It's time to give this a whisk.
This cake would traditionally just be served
as like a delicious cake in and of itself.
Maybe a little bit of powdered sugar on top,
but it's delicious plain.
Today I might be making a frosting.
This is an optional step.
This is ready to be set aside.
And now, in a slightly smaller bowl,
I'm gonna add my wet ingredients.
I have one cup of hot water. (bright music)
I'm gonna add that into my bowl.
240 mLs.
And one cup of room temperature molasses.
This comes out more slowly.
Lots of flavor in the molasses.
So we want the hot water to dissolve the molasses
and really make it a nice even mixture.
Mix, mix, mix, mix, mix, mix.
And then, to this mixture,
I'm adding one cup or 200 grams of granulated sugar.
So just whisk that right in.
This cake is so easy to make
and I swear during the holidays,
you'll have this out, little pieces on a platter,
it'll disappear in a snap.
It's time for 3/4 of a cup of melted unsalted butter.
That's 170 grams.
Lots of richness in there.
Two eggs.
I'm gonna crack these into a separate bowl
because I definitely wanna spot any stray shells.
Yep, this'll do.
Give a little mix.
Add the eggs in along with one tablespoon of butter.
Along with one tablespoon of vanilla extract.
Butter?
Give this a nice mix.
Oh my gosh, that smells really, really nice.
It's time to pour the wet into the dry.
But I wanna tell you,
for the fluffiest most amazing cake possible,
do not overmix your batter.
Now we're gonna whisk this together
until it's almost combined.
There's a lotta flour lurking on the bottom.
See, this all puffs up.
So scrape it down while you whisk.
And now go nice and slow.
This is a lovely color.
Just check for any last little bits of flour.
And once you're content,
it's time to pour into your prepared pan.
Into the oven, 350 for 30 to 35 minutes
or until the center is springy to the touch.
(bright music)
While the cakes baking,
I'm making a really easy
and very optional buttercream for this.
I just so happen
to have a little bit of brown butter leftover.
I used a lot on my pasta last night.
Hoping it's about half a cup.
Ooh, it's just a little bit over half a cup.
How lovely.
This is gonna add a wonderful seasonal depth of flavor.
And I'm gonna go half and half.
So half regular butter, half browned.
Browned butter is just butter that's been cooked down
and has a wonderful, nutty depth of flavor.
This gingerbread cake is lovely in and of itself,
but a kiss of frosting on top
is gonna be perfectly delicious too.
I have about a cup of butter here,
and I'm also gonna add the zest of a lemon.
Lemon and gingerbread go so well together.
I love adding a little bit of lemon into my icing
when I make gingerbread cookies too.
In you go.
This is gonna get creamed up and be so delicious.
Pop that onto your mixer.
Ooh!
Along with the paddle attachment
and a nice pinch of salt.
Okay, mix this up for about a minute on medium speed
so the butter's really creamy and nice.
If you want,
you could use regular butter for this completely.
Or all browned butter.
It's totally up to you.
(upbeat music) (mixer whirring)
Oh my gosh!
Already the smell is amazing.
A little bit of vanilla wouldn't hurt either.
(mixer whirring) (upbeat music)
Scrape that bowl down.
Browned butter is one of my favorite things in the world.
I even have a project on how to make it
and use it in my cookbook.
It's very good.
Hope you have a copy.
(bright music)
I'm guessing I'll add about four cups of powdered sugar,
but it's kinda to taste.
So let's see how we like it.
It's a little bit less than four, actually.
Mix on low.
And we can add some cream in here too
just to give it a more slack, luscious consistency.
I increased to to medium speed.
It's nice and combined.
Now I'm gonna add about 1/4 cup of cream.
I'm just making this recipe up, by the way.
I kinda just felt like having frosting today,
so bear with me as I just eyeball things.
(bright music) (mixer whirring)
Mm!
This is looking so nice on top,
but the bottom is really compacted and not fluffy.
So one more scrape down before we get to taste testing.
If you wanted a frosting that was like a break
from the spice fall amazingness,
you could have a cream cheese frosting
with the zest of a lemon in it.
That'd be really nice too.
(bright music) (mixer whirring)
Okay, I'm increasing it to high speed
just for like 30 seconds.
Mm!
(bright music) (mixer whirring)
Let's see.
Look at that color!
It looks so fluffy.
(upbeat music)
That's really nice.
Hmm. Oh my gosh.
That hits your tongue in different places.
It's like a little bit on the tip, side, the back.
You can like taste different things
in a cascade of flavors.
Ah, so nice.
Yeah, that would be like a browned butter lemon frosting.
But that doesn't do it justice.
The taste is great.
I want this to be just a bit more creamy and smooth,
so I'm adding in a few more tablespoons of cream.
This is just sitting on top of my sheet cake.
I'm not gonna stack anything,
so it could be really loose and just amazing.
It doesn't have to have that much strength.
Okay, final taste test.
Mm!
Let's make this happen.
So I had my cake in the fridge to let it cool down quicker.
Got a little wrinkly
because I was transferring it like this.
But I'm gonna pop this onto something more presentable.
(bright music) (paper crinkling)
La la la.
So like I said earlier, you could just present this as is,
cut into little pieces and serve,
dust with powdered sugar or make an optional frosting.
So here's that.
I'm just plopping this on with a triggered ice cream scoop.
This cake is so soft.
I dunno if you can see,
but it's basically like a gingerbread pillow.
Just smooth it out over the surface.
And then we're going to give it a couple swirls.
Look at that luscious frosting.
And swoops!
Give it some movement.
And the nice thing is, when you do this style of decorating,
it makes it look like there's tons of frosting
even if it's actually a pretty thin layer.
Give it a slice and it's ready to enjoy.
(bright music)
Hmm!
That frosting is optional but delicious.
You should really try and make it.
Oh my gosh. Mm!
Melts as soon as it touches your mouth.
And the cake is like
the most pillowy, soft gingerbread cloud
you could ever imagine.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you like this video,
check out my holiday cake playlist.