This moist gingerbread cake is full of molasses and fragrant spices and is one of my favorite recipes!
I just have such a thing for this simple gingerbread cake. Maybe it's the memories of school lunches or the fact that it makes the apartment smell like Christmas every time I bake it. Either way, I always look forward to baking it!
And for good reason. For a LONG LONG LONG time, I have been looking for a recipe that meets all my requirements for the perfect gingerbread cake:
- extra moist,
- full of warming spices,
- extraordinarily ordinary,
- sweet just right!
And this gingerbread cake meets those requirements perfectly. Why will you love it too? It's very simple to make! You only need one bowl for mixing and as a bonus you can use a good amount of sourdough starter that might be sadly sitting in your fridge!
A few ingredients add extra moisture to the gingerbread, including the sourdough starter - of course, yoghurt and sugar cane molasses. This trio of ingredients makes for the moistest gingerbread cake under the sun that you'll bake over and over again - just like me!
What is sugar cane molasses?
Sugar cane molasses is something of a treasure to me. Every time I bake or cook with it I feel like a culinary goddess. There's something beautiful about that liquid, shiny, golden brown molasses. And every time, I also think I should use it more!
Molasses is a by-product of beet sugar production. Even so, molasses is still mostly made up of sugars. But in addition to regular sugar, it contains vitamins and minerals , especially B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese. Molasses is also considered by some to be a superfood full of antioxidants!
How to incorporate sourdough starter into batter?
Adding sourdough starter to batter is more than easy. Basically, just mix it in with the wet ingredients and it doesn't matter if it's for this delicious gingerbread cake, fresh sourdough lemon poppy seed cake, bundt cake or even muffins.
If you mix the sourdough starter into the batter and bake straight away, your baked product will get lots of extra flavor and also extra moistness. But if you want to take your sourdough skills to the next level, you can also ferment these batters.
How to ferment batter with sourdough?
Fermentation adds even more flavor to batter and improves the digestibility of baked goods. During the fermentation process, the amount of the phytic acid in the flour is reduced, thus improving the absorption of nutrients into the body.
For the fermentation process, all ingredients except baking soda are mixed. The batter is allowed to stand on the counter overnight or for a minimum of 8 hours. Then, just before baking, add the leavening agent (baking powder, baking soda) to the batter and bake according to the recipe.
Fermenting the batter with eggs??
If you search online or in books for different recipes for fermented cakes/buns, you may also come across that they omit the egg in the fermentation process and add it just before baking with leavening agent. This is usually because of the fear of multiplying bacteria from the egg. I personally ferment my doughs and batters with eggs and have never had a problem with that. So in this case, just trust your intuition - you can ferment batter with or without eggs.
How to make sourdough gingerbread cake?
In this recipe, I use the no-fermentation method, so I add the sourdough starter to the batter along with the wet ingredients. This is in fact the most common way I make this wonderful extra-moist sourdough gingerbread cake.
Prepare a large bowl and add the eggs, sugar, molasses and mix with a whisk until the mixture is smooth.
It can sometimes happen that the molasses is too thick (this tends to happen if the molasses is older). In that case, measure out the required amount into a small pot, add 1-2 tsp of water and heat on the stove for a second. The molasses will melt again very quickly and you can use it further in the recipe. Just be careful not to let the molasses get too hot - it might curdle the eggs.
Place a large sieve on a bowl and sift in the flour, salt, gingerbread spice, cinnamon and baking soda. Mix it all together into a smooth batter.
Prepare a cake tin (I have a 28cm diameter). Either line it with baking paper or grease and coat with coarse flour (I love to use coconut flour!).
Finally, add a crunchy contrast- to our sourdough gingerbread cake. Sprinkle the top of the gingerbread with sliced almonds or other nuts, but the almonds look simply AMAZING with the dark color of gingerbread cake! Bake it in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 35 minutes. This sourdough gingerbread cake is best served with plum jam and a little extra spoon of Greek yoghurt or sour cream
TIPS:
- this gingerbread cake is also wonderful with addition of dried fruit - add raisins, cranberries, prunes or apricots and reduce the amount of sugar by a bit
- for even more extra moist cake, add a grated apple to the batter
- and for all the chocolate lovers, you can also add a few chocolate chips to the batter or drizzle the top of the cake with melted dark chocolate
Recipe
Recipe 8-12 servings
Sourdough gingerbread cake
Ingredients:
- 250 g spelt flour, can be wholemeal
- 100 g sourdough starter (wheat, rye or buckwheat)
- 2 eggs
- 90 g cane sugar
- 60 g sugar cane molasses
- 100 ml oil (sunflower, rapeseed, coconut)
- 100 g Greek yoghurt
- 100 g milk
- 2 leveled tsp of baking soda,
- 2 tsp gingerbread spice
- 0,5 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- a handful of almonds or already made almond slices
- plum jam and yoghurt or sour cream for serving
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and molasses until the mixture is combined.
- Add the oil, yogurt, sourdough starter and milk and beat with a whisk until smooth.
- Place a large sieve in the bowl and sift in the flour, salt, gingerbread spice, cinnamon and baking soda. Mix everything together to form a smooth batter.
- Grease a cake tin (approx. 28 cm in diameter) and coat with flour.
- Pour the batter into the tin and smooth it out with a spatula.
- Slice the almonds lengthways and sprinkle them over the top of the gingerbread cake.
- Bake the gingerbread cake in a preheated oven at 180°C for approximately 25 minutes.
- The sourdough gingerbread cake is best served with plum jam and a little extra spoon of Greek yoghurt.
Note: If your molasses is too thick, heat it in a saucepan with a little water first. The molasses will quickly become more liquid.
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Je úžasný, dělám z 1 1/2 dávky na větší plech , vláčný nadýchaný peckovní 🙂 Děkuji za recept Raduško 🙂
Krásný den, to je skvělý, že se recept ujal i u vás doma :))
Dobrý deň, chystám sa na váš perník, vyzerá vynikajúco, len mi úplne nie je jasná forma.. píšete priemer 28..to máte tortovú okrúhlu, či?
Ano, doporučuji použít kulatou formu o průměru 28 cm.
Včera som ho urobila, je výborný, no dnes je ešte lepší..asi sa potrebovali všetko prepojiť a viac cítiť tu vlačnost.
Ďakujem a určite vyskúšam aj ostatné recepty..už sa teším ❤️