Molasses Spice Cake

This past summer, my mother and I were puttering around in our local Goodwill shop looking for inexpensive booth supplies for a craft show we were participating in.  Although we didn't find what we were looking for, we did come across a sweet little train cake pan for $.99 ($36 at williams-sonoma.com how's that for a steal?)  We immediately snapped it up with hardly a second thought.  It was in perfect condition, no sticky spots or weird smells...it looked like it had probably never seen the inside of the oven.  Today, I decided to put it to good use and I am so glad I did.  I made the most delicious, soft, crumbly, moist Molasses Spice Cake with it.  Because it's my own recipe, I am going to share it with you right here.  You should definitely make this one, you won't be disappointed!  If you don't have the world's cutest train cupcake pan, then you can fit this in two 8" round cake pans or a lasagna pan or even regular cupcakes.  Mmmmmmm it smells so yummy in my house right now!  What a perfect treat to ring in the new year!

Molasses Spice Cake

recipe by Kristi McDonough

(makes two 8" rounds or a dozen cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup hot water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Set aside.

Measure molasses and buttermilk in a glass Pyrex 4-Cup capacity measuring cup.  Add water and vanilla and mix well.

Place butter, brown sugar and egg in bowl of mixer and beat on medium speed until thoroughly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Starting with flour mixture, alternately add flour and molasses mixture until cake batter is smooth. 

Pour into prepared cake pans.

Bake approximately 20 minutes for cupcakes and 8" rounds, 25-30 for lasagna pan.  Reduce heat to 325* if using glass or dark pans.

Slice the tops flat, if using the train pan or 8" rounds:

Turn out on a wire rack to cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.

This cake pan could be perfect for a little boys birthday party, a baby shower, circus themed birthday party etc.  Here are a couple of pictures from google.com of some really creative cakes using this same pan.

Photo from trainparty.com

Photo from bridgestreetblog.blogspot.com


Speaking of parties, The Roo is going to be three in about a month, which means I have one heck of a fabulous birthday party to plan!  She starts preschool on January 3, which means she'll have a few friends to invite this time!  I better start thinking of age-appropriate games, I suppose!  Until next time...

-Kristi



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