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Ginger Cake with Lemon Sauce (updated)

Servings 16
Author A Bountiful Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 3/4 cup dark molasses I like Grandma's brand
  • 1 cup sour cream regular or light I like regular
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon salt

Sauce:

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed will make the very best glaze
  • dash of salt

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine in this order:

  1. Eggs, oil, molasses (after measuring the oil, measure the molasses in the same cup and the molasses will slide out easily) and sour cream. Mix until ingredients are smooth. If a few lumps remain from the sour cream, they will blend out with the dry ingredients.
  2. Dump the sugar, flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, soda and salt into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Mix all at once, for about one minute.
  3. Spoon batter into a greased 9”x13” baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean, make sure to not overbake! 
  4. A few minutes before the cake is done, prepare the sauce.

Sauce:

  1. Mix butter, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over medium high heat until sugar dissolves. Let the sauce come to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for about one minute. Pour sauce over warm cake immediately after removing from oven.
  2. Cake is best served when warm with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Recipe Notes

-For those of you who have been with ABK for a while, I posted this in '08 but decided it could be simplified (consolidating spices and using pumpkin pie spice instead) and lightened up the recipe a bit by switching out the butter in the cake for oil and cutting the lemon butter sauce in half.

I made the changes and the cake was better than my original version. A bit lighter, but still moist with great flavor.

-*Make your own pumpkin pie spice for a fraction of the cost of pre mixed pp spice, recipe here:  http://abountifulkitchen.com/2011/11/how-to-make-your-own-pumpkin-pie-spice.html

-Make sure to check after 30 minutes, this cake bakes quickly and will dry out if over baked.

-This cake is best served within 8 hours of baking.

-If the cake has cooled before serving, heat up individual pieces for about 15 seconds in microwave, then top with whipped cream.