Chocolate-Covered Gingerbread Cake

"So many German settlers carried their gingerbread treats to small towns around this country that the sweetly spiced cakes and cookies have become an all-American tradition. Coated with a chocolate ganache glaze, the homey cake of holidays past is transformed into a special-occasion dessert. This cake can be made vegan by using non-dairy margarine instead of butter and Rich's Whip instead of real whipping cream and ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips with exceptional results. You can also add raspberries to the top. Recipe is from Bon Appetit, Dec. 2002."
 
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photo by Fairy Nuff photo by Fairy Nuff
photo by Fairy Nuff
photo by Fairy Nuff photo by Fairy Nuff
Ready In:
50mins
Ingredients:
19
Serves:
9-12
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ingredients

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directions

  • For cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F Butter 9-inch square metal baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. Butter parchment. Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend.
  • Mix warm water and baking soda in small bowl until baking soda dissolves. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, molasses, eggs, and fresh ginger in large bowl until well blended. Add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with water mixture in 2 additions, beating until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool on rack 20 minutes. Run knife around edge of cake to loosen. Invert cake onto rack; cool. Peel off parchment.
  • For glaze:

  • Bring first 3 ingredients to simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and vanilla; stir until smooth. Let stand until cool but still pourable, about 20 minutes.
  • Place cake on rack set atop baking sheet. Reserve 1/2 cup glaze. Pour remaining glaze over cake, spreading with spatula to coat top and sides. Chill cake and reserved glaze until reserved glaze is just firm enough to pipe, about 1 hour.
  • Transfer reserved glaze to pastry bag fitted with 1/4-inch plain tip. Pipe 5 diagonal lines atop cake, spacing evenly. Cluster crystallized ginger atop lines. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.).

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Reviews

  1. Spectacular! Who knew chocolate and gingerbread would go together so well? I doubled the recipe and stacked the layers with the ganache as a filling as well as frosting. Great flavor, lovely teture - everyone loved it.
     
  2. Wow cheryl - what a cake!! Love the spice blend...I followed the recipe and, apart from it taking ten minutes longer to bake, everything was spot on! The cake itself is so light and filled with flavour....the ganache is sinfully delicious and the crowning glory, the crystallized ginger, makes this a very eye-catching cake.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I live in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina on Butler Mountain. I am a mystery shopper for restaurants and retail establishments. I graduated from UNC-Asheville with a BFA in art (photography). I was just recently married in Costa Rica to KC and his 6 year old son, Ty. Our wedding was perfect and I will cherish the memories forever. Leslie, Mama's Kitchen, sassafrasnanc, Mommy Diva and Chef V attended the wedding with their husbands!! Leslie's daughter Sarah was our flower girl and her hubby Wayne was our talented musician! I had the time of my life!!! <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://w3.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/897d027c.pbw" height="360" width="480"> Our family is rounded out with 6 Bengals, 1 Jack Russell Terror named Harley, a ferret named Mason, giant gold fish, a water dragon named Crusoe, a Beautiful Appaloosa/Arabian named Sassy, a stunning Palomino Quarter Horse named Sweet Pea and a gorgeous black Standardbred named Domino! We also have added a Leopard Appaloosa rescue horse to the mix. Her name is Pebbles and she is lovely! <img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/thstatenorthcara1.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/artsyfartsya1.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/buttermybutt.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/anotherdayinparadise.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/countrygirla1.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/truelove.gif"> <embed src="http://w3.photobucket.com/widgets/Bucketshow.swf" quality="high" bgcolor="ffffff" width="300" height="300" name="Bucketshow" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="url=http://w3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/cutest of cute/&name=ourcuties"></embed> <img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/imengageda1.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/love31a.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/someoldnewa1.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/crazyinlovea1.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/homepage/wedding2.gif"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/praying_for_my_bean.gif"> I love Zaar! 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