Gingerbread Snacking Cake - Martha Stewart

From BeckyBlair

(My changes for baking a Gingerbread Village in the World Market silicone mold are in red)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans(deciding to use a cake flour version, I substituted 5 T of cornstarch for 5 T of the flour, but that isn’t necessary)

1 cup boiling water

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves(I used ¼ teaspoon of cloves)

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg(I used freshly grated; my wonderful husband gifted me a nutmeg grater)

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

⅔ cuppacked dark-brownsugar

1 cup unsulfured molasses(I think I will substitute half the molasses withKayro syrup next time and regular sugarfor the brown to make the color lighter; I think that will show the house detail better)

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger(there will be a lot of juice; I just squeezed it out)

2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Heat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan; set aside. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda(when I did this I couldn’t help but hearStevie Nicks singing “stand back, stand back”); set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses, grated ginger, baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture. Beat in eggs.

Pour batter into prepared pan; bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares; dust withconfectioners' sugar.

AdditionalNotes:

Make sure to butter and flour the inside of the mold before filling. Place the mold on a cookie sheet.

Fill to about ¾” from the opening using an ice cream scoop with a lever. I tapped the mold down on the sheet to get rid of air bubbles.

I didn’t want to waste all this batter if it didn’t work; after filling the mold, I was able to fill 7 of 8 heart shaped muffin shapes in two tins. I baked them for 20 minutes, and the houses for 30 min.

I allowed the houses to cool before pulling the silicone mold away from the cake edges and emptying onto a rack.