This isn’t an adaptation, it’s verbatim from one of my favorite cookbooks. I can’t recommend it highly enough, and of course if you click on the title at the end of the post you will be whisked away to Amazon 😉 .
Dark Molasses Gingerbread Cake
This is the best gingerbread I’ve ever tasted. It’s very dark and moist, with a pudding-like consistency. Try to wait a day before eating it: as good as it is fresh from the oven, it is even better when the spices and molasses have had the opportunity to mellow and meld.
2 cups bleached all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons Homemade Baking Powder (Miss Lewis blended 1/4 cup cream of tartar and 2 tablespoons commercial baking powder to make a mixture than didn’t have a metallic taste.) 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, 1 cup boiling water, 2 eggs beaten, 1 and 1/2 cups molasses
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Sift the flour, soda, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Using a wire whisk, blend in the spices and salt. Melt the butter in the boiling water, then whisk into the flour mixture. Add the eggs and molasses, and whisk until well blended.
Turn into a buttered and floured 8-by-8-by-2-inch baking pan, and bake in the preheated oven for 35—40 minutes, until done, or until a skewer plunged in the center comes out with no trace of raw batter.
Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream (chilled), 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Whip the cream with the vanilla and sugar until it forms soft peaks. Serve with the warm gingerbread.
(Note: If you only have unbleached flour, you could use it, but reduce the total amount of flour by 1/3 cup. Otherwise you are likely to end up with dry, coarse gingerbread.)