Gingerbread Cakes

Gingerbread Cakes
Makes 9 small layer cakes

2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Molasses
2/3 Cup Hot Water
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 Butter
1 lb Confectioner’s Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest from 1 Lemon

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl until well combined.

Prepare two 8×8 baking pans as follows: grease the pans with butter. Lay a square of parchment paper down in the inside of the pans, cut to fit the bottoms. Grease the paper as well. Use some of the mixture you just made to flour the pans, shaking/tapping out any extra.

Whisk molasses and hot water together.

Cream the butter and sugar. Whip the mixture with the egg until light and fluffy.

Add part of the molasses mixture and part of the margarine and sugar mixture to the dry ingredients.

Begin to combine. As the ingredients come together, add more of the butter mixture and more of the molasses mixture until everything has been incorporated. Whisk to remove lumps, but do not over-mix.

Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared pans. Bake at 350º F for 30-40 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean, or the top of the cake, when touched, springs back. Let cakes cool completely, then remove from the pan. You may need to use a knife to loosen the edges, but the parchment paper should keep the bottoms from sticking.

Once the cakes have cooled and have been removed from the pans, use a small biscuit cutter to cut 9 rounds from each cake.

Prepare frosting by beating all of the frosting ingredients in a stand mixee until well combined and fluffy.

Place a small amount of frosting on 9 rounds.
Stack the rounds.

Place the rest of the frosting in a piping bag and frost the top of each cake.

You can garnished them with green and red nonpareils, or maraschino cherries would be nice. Keep in an airtight container until ready to serve.