Espresso Gingerbread Cake

Here is a new twist on an old holiday favorite: gingerbread with a coffee-flavored frosting. Not your typical gingerbread, but the flavors of ginger, molasses, and coffee compliment each other very nicely. It was surprisingly delicious. The cake was spicy and had a nice tender crumb, and the frosting suited it perfectly. The recipe came from an old booklet I found lying around the house.

Espresso Gingerbread Cake
CAKE
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup fancy molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
3 Tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
FROSTING
1 1/2 tsp boiling water
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1/3 cup 35% whipping cream
2 Tbsp softened butter
2 cups icing sugar

Butter an 8-inch round springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350◦F.

CAKE In a large, heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the butter and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the molasses and brown sugar, egg and ginger.
Stir the flour with the baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cardamom. Add to the butter mixture in two additions, blending with a spoon until smooth. 
Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING
Place boiling water in a large bowl. Add the coffee and stir to dissolve. Add cream and butter, blend well. Gradually beat in icing sugar until smooth. Spread over just the top pf the cooled cake and allow some frosting to run down the sides.

The recipe recommends garnishing this cake with crystallized ginger strips, but I didn't have any. So I garnished with chocolate chips, because everyone loves chocolate (at least in this house).