Gingerbread Cake with Bourbon Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Welcome to December's What's Baking!

We were challenged gingerbread theme for the month of December, and it is perfect timing for the holidays! I decided to go traditional and bake a gingerbread cake. I looked for an easy recipe and found this gingerbread cake recipe from Taste of Home. It looked delicious and I decided to top it with a bourbon vanilla buttercream frosting. As expect, this cake was super easy to make and tasted delicious! I really like molasses and love the smells coming from my kitchen as the cake was baking.  The other great thing about this recipe is that it makes an 8x8 (9 pieces) cake and, if you are a small family like mine, it is nice to to have tons of leftover cake by using a 9x13 pan. However, if you want a larger cake doubling the recipe for the cake and frosting should do the trick. 

Today I am doing a little shopping for our family Christmas and then heading to Ron's graduation. Ron has worked really hard toward a career change and it finally at the end of the journey. He starts his new job on Monday with a fantastic company. I could not be more thrilled for him (and us) because it has been a long road.  I think the hardest part for Ron is not getting as much time with Kellen as before, but we will adapt and love that we were given this opportunity for our family.  AFter graduation we are heading to Nicky's for dinner with family to celebrate! 

I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with for our challenge! Have a wonderful Friday everyone!  

Ingredients

for cake: 

1 egg, beaten

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/2 cup molasses

  5 Tbl butter, melted

  2/3 cup cold water

  11/2 cups all-purpose flour

  1 tsp baking soda

  1 tsp ground ginger

  1/2 tsp salt

for frosting: 

1 stick  unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 Tbl bourbon 

Ingredients

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 square baking pan and set aside. 

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, combine egg, sugar, molasses, butter and water and mix well. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt. Slowing add the four mixture molasses mixture.with mixing on low speed. Pour into baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick is clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. 

for frosting:

In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Beat in the confectioners' sugar, bourbon and vanilla at medium speed, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Spread frosting over cooled cake and serve.

Yield: 9 servings.