No. 7 Gingerbread

Going along with the upcoming Holiday season I decided that I wanted some Gingerbread! There are countless recipes for this sweet cake. They range from a soft cake to a crisp cookie like treat. I browsed through several recipes before deciding on No. 7 Gingerbread from The Practical Cookbook, 1850. This book gives ten recipes for gingerbread, and one for ginger cookies, I think its safe to say that it was a popular treat!

I partly chose this recipe because I knew I had all of the ingredients (and quantities needed) in the cabinet and would not have to make a special trip to get anything required.


I softened a stick and half of butter and creamed it with 3/4 cup of sugar. I did this by hand, it does not take long with the softened butter. Add in the flour (2 1/4 cups) and 3/4 cups of molasses. I used a light colored "local farm" molasses that I love. Beat three eggs well in a separate bowl, then add to the mix. I then added a heaping tablespoon of ground ginger. Mix well, almost completely. The recipe states that you should bake as soon as the soda is added. I dissolved the teaspoon of soda in milk ( about 1/4 cup) in a separate bowl before incorporating it to the mix.   After working in the milk I spooned the mix into my "buttered tin" which was a regular 9" round cake pan.

Into the oven at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. This was my oven, oven temps vary. 

Batter all mixed.

Since the batter had been so good, I was not worried so much about the taste, as what the finished product would look like, and whether it would be a soft & cake-y. I kept checking the oven to make sure it was not burning.
Then, out came this lovely cake of gingerbread, perfect out of the oven!!!! I plated it & could not wait to cut into it (I'm always so excited about these things).

Hot out of the oven

The end result was a gorgeous, lovely, and yummy cake of gingerbread!!!!
This recipe is defiantly a keeper, I may even try it at the event this weekend.