This chocolate gingerbread has the holidays wrapped up in a nice cake. This recipe is packed with ginger and spices. The molasses and chocolate give this dessert a decadence that is bound to impress anyone.
My favorite part about this cake is its history with a friend of mine and his father. The first time I made this for a house warming gift for a friend and dad took almost all of the extra gingerbread for himself. Then every holiday party a former friend of mine had he insisted on having his own cake.Â
Fast forward a few years and when my friend’s dad came out of surgery the doctor asked what he wanted to eat and he said my gingerbread. Since that time I have tried to make sure he has had one every holiday. This year I decided to share the recipe.
In this recipe
There is a huge amount of ginger in this recipe. There is both fresh ginger and ground ginger will really give an intense ginger flavor that is essential to this recipe.Â
When working with ginger it is good to find a root with very few branching segments. This will help with quickly working with the ginger to get the necessary 3 tablespoons. For this recipe a micro plane and a spoon will be your friend. Scrape the spoon on the ginger to remove the skin.
Once it is removed then the micro plane will make short work of the ginger. Be aware that there will be water if you use this method. This will not impact the cake in any way.Â
When creaming all the eggs into the butter and sugar it might look like it is curdling. This is ok. Once the molasses has been added it will smooth out. It is important to not overmix the batter once the flour has been added. Mix each part until the flour just barely disappears into the mixture.Â
While working with the chocolate and making the ganache it is important to get the cream very hot. Once it is poured over the chocolate let it sit for 5 minutes. I know it will be tempting to mix early but by allowing the chocolate to sit then the heat will penetrate all of the chocolate. It will mix very easily that way.Â
The Best Chocolate Gingerbread
Equipment
- Spoon
- Micro plane grater
- 9 x 13 baking dish
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment
- Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
Ingredients
Gingerbread
- 3 tbsp fresh ginger minced or grated
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 3 eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup butter unsalted, softened
- ½ cup molasses not blackstrap
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate melted, cooled
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2¼ cup flour
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tbsp espresso powder
Ganache Frosting
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or gas mark 4. Grease the baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl add the flour, espresso, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, ground ginger and whisk to combine.
- In the stand mixer, on medium high speed, beat the butter until smooth. Add the brown sugar and cream until butter starts to lighten. Add the eggs in one at a time waiting at least a minute between each egg. Add the molasses and reduce the speed to low. Add the melted and cooled chocolate. Mix until combined.
- Starting with the flour mixture add â…“ of the flour to the stand mixer and mix until just combined. Then add half of the buttermilk and mixed until just combined. Repeat the processed alternating between the flour mixture and buttermilk.
- Pour into greased baking dish and bake for 45 min or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes away clean.
- When the cake is cooling add the sugar to the cream and heat the cream until steam forms and pour over the chocolate. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then mix. Pour over the cooled cake.
