Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cake

Thirty-seven weeks. The OB confirmed Friday at the regular check that the baby is full-term and could come anytime in the next three weeks. Everything is in head-down position. The hospital go-bag is in the trunk of Dustin’s Civic. The car seat is installed in the back seat. Dustin and I are on call — we both have phones charged at all times, the OB’s after-hours line is on speed-dial, the hospital is ten minutes away.

Mama is back in Sapulpa working at the cafe in the front-of-house manager role. The cafe’s second week of service has been steady. Cody is sleeping properly again and has settled into a rhythm.

Sunday I made chocolate chip gingerbread cake because Mama had asked for it on the phone Saturday afternoon — she’d been baking from Carol’s recipe box that morning at the cafe’s back kitchen (she’s been adapting Carol-recipes for the cafe’s rotating dessert offerings) and had remembered the gingerbread cake from the 1979 card. The cake is a Carol-classic — spiced gingerbread with chocolate chips folded into the batter, baked in a tube pan, served with a thin lemon glaze.

The technique: in a saucepan, melt half a cup of butter, stir in a half-cup of dark molasses, a half-cup of brown sugar, and a half-cup of buttermilk. Cool to lukewarm.

In a large bowl, whisk two and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour, a teaspoon of baking soda, a half-teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of ground ginger, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a half-teaspoon of cloves, a quarter-teaspoon of allspice. Whisk in the molasses mixture and two beaten eggs until smooth. Fold in a cup and a half of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour into a buttered-and-floured tube pan. Bake at three-fifty for fifty to fifty-five minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan twenty minutes before inverting.

The lemon glaze: a cup of powdered sugar, three tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, a teaspoon of vanilla. Whisked smooth and drizzled over the cooled cake.

I FaceTimed Mama at four PM Sunday with the cake on the apartment counter. Mama held up her own cake on the cafe counter at the same moment. Two cakes across two states, made from the same Carol card on the same Sunday. The parallel cooking has become its own ritual now.

Molasses, brown sugar, buttermilk for the wet base. Warm spices. Chocolate chips folded last. Lemon glaze. Here’s the build.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and lightly flour it, tapping out any excess.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and brown sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and molasses. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the molasses and mix until fully combined. The batter may look slightly curdled — that’s normal.
Combine wet and dry. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the hot water, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until no streaks remain; do not overmix.
Fold in chocolate chips. Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips by hand, reserving the remaining 1/2 cup for topping.
Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Scatter the reserved chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 32–37 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs (not wet batter).
Cool and serve. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cake