Cointreau Gingerbread Cake.
I love anything with obscene amounts of ginger in it. I get giddy after eating sushi because I get to eat paper-thin slices of raw ginger which I dip into soy sauce + almost savor as much as I did the sushi.
I have been craving a gingery dessert for a while and decided it’s time to break out the gingerbread cake. This gingerbread cake is the bomb.com because it’s warm, moist, + has orange liqueur in it which instantly upgrades this to a fancy cake. I made mine in a small bundt pan and several cupcake liners but it can be made in a 9-inch cake pan.
Bundt pans are the perfect cake pan because everyone gets the same slice and the mold shape already decorates the cake so there’s no real need to hide it under a slather of frosting. Who could resist the round voluptuous edges of a bundt which yields to the inside of an absolutely soft moist cake? Nobody, that’s who. I had visions of this bundt being drizzled with Cointreau-infused icing which would then gradually soak its way into the inner crumb of the cake. Did that vision come to fruition? Nope! Didn’t happen as I wanted it to. Instead, my cake which was in a full buttered + floured pan got stuck and broke inside the pan.
Was I devastated? Yes.
Did I audibly gasp? Yes.
Was I on the verge of rebaking it so that I can have pretty pictures for this newsletter? Yes, but I decided against it.
The cake was edible even though it was broken and it tasted like a million bucks so why go through the trouble of rebaking it when I can just be honest + show you the aftermath. The cake didn’t get its time to shine, but it was still delicious AF.
This gingerbread recipe can be made without the orange liqueur + zest if you want a more traditional gingerbread flavor.
Cointreau Gingerbread Cake
1 cup white sugar
½ cup butter
1 cup molasses
1 egg
⅓ cup applesauce
2 tablespoon Cointreau (or any other orange liqueur)
Zest of one orange
1 ½ teaspoon grated ginger
2 ½ cup flour
2 teaspoon ginger ground
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
Cointreau Icing
¼ cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoon Cointreau (or any other orange liqueur)
1 teaspoon milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan or a 9-inch cake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg, molasses, applesauce, Cointreau, and ginger. In a separate bowl sift flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. Mix flour mixture into wet ingredients. Once well-incorporated stir in hot water into the batter.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes. The cake is done when a knife is inserted in the center and comes out clean. Let it completely cool in the pan before serving.
Cook. Eat. Repeat.
Natalie