Spicy GingerBread

Well, the season has arrived!! The trees are up (we have 3 of them!), our Christmas cards have been created and printed and I think I'm almost done with shopping.  Whew, I'm tired.  We have a couple of holiday gatherings yet to attend and concert tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  That, I must say, I am super jazzed about!  As usual I have once again forgotten about St Nicholas Day.  The Bellman never does......and guess what today is?  Yep, this morning I awoke to find a lovey card and gift waiting for me.  This beautiful bundt pan!!  So festive and cute :)  

 I couldn't wait  to try it out.  I used my trusty gingerbread cupcake recipe and adjusted the baking time.  It popped out of that bundt pan perfectly!  This is a very dense and earthy cake.  The molasses is very dominant so if ya don't like rye bread or dark beer then this is probably not for you. :)

I sprinkled it with powdered sugar and decided to go back and add a drizzle to sweeten it up a bit.  I totally winged it and mixed some 10X with milk and a little orange essence to make a nice thick drizzle.  Personally, I like it plain without the drizzle but it is probably not sweet enough for the Bellman Rat Pack that way.  

Not that there will be any left over but wouldn't this make a nice next day french toast?  Perhaps with a little raspberry jam or lemon curd??  yummo!

GINGERBREAD
Yield = 1 loaf

2 C flour
1/3 C sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 C butter, melted
1 C molasses
1 egg
1/2 C buttermilk
1/4 C hot water

1.  sift together all dry ingredients.

2.  stir in melted butter, molasses, egg and buttermilk.

3.  beat in hot water.

4.  pour into greased loaf pan and bake 350F for 45-50 minutes.

**if baking cupcakes then bake for 20-22 minutes.

Enjoy!!