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Prep time
20 minutes
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Cook time
35 minutes
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makes
1 8x8-square cake
Author Notes
This ultra chocolate-y, spiced and––dare I say––moist (in a good way) ginger-forward cake could not be easier to assemble and more delightful to share (or not) all winter long. The spices are warming, and yet the chocolate flavor, pronounced; which is a little unusual and frankly, wildly delicious. You 100% can add a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger, along with the oil and sugars, but the cake honestly doesn’t need it—I promise. The molasses here not only makes for a moist cake, but also marries beautifully with chocolate (if you’ve never popped some chopped chocolate into your go-to chewy ginger cookie dough around the holidays, you need to get on that, stat).
The sour cream whipped cream is not only one of the more genius things I’ve created recently, but is beyond perfect with the cake. The creamy, cool tanginess of it truly takes this cake over the top. Moreover the addition of sour cream in the whipped cream adds exceptional flavor to the whole package, and stabilizes the cream as well. So if the cake is not finished the day you make it—which I won’t lie, would be pretty weird—you can nibble on cream-topped slices for the next few days, without fear of finding a runny, weeping whipped cream in your fridge. Moreover, if you want to plan ahead (and if you do, I love you for that, seeing as I am a plan-ahead-er from way back) and make the cake and cream a day or so ahead of when you want to serve it, this sour cream whipped cream will not disappoint. And the cake is even better on day two, so there’s that, too. I mean truly with this easy cake and cream combo, what’s not to love?
—Jessie Sheehan
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Ingredients
- Cake
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1/2 cup
(113g) hot tap water
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1/2 cup
(42g) Dutch process cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
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1 teaspoon
espresso powder
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1/2 cup
(99g) vegetable oil
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1/2 cup
(107g) dark brown sugar
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1/4 cup
(50g) granulated sugar
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1/2 cup
(170g) unsulphured molasses
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2 teaspoons
vanilla extract
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1
large egg
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1
egg yolk
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1 teaspoon
baking powder
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1/8 teaspoon
baking soda
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1 teaspoon
kosher salt
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1 tablespoon
ground ginger
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1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon, plus more for dusting
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a
rounded ¼ teaspoon cloves
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1/4 teaspoon
white pepper
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1 cup
(120g) all-purpose flour
- Sour Cream Whipped Cream (yields 3 cups)
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1/2 cup
(114g) sour cream, room temperature
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1 cup
(227g) heavy cream
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1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
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1/3 cup
(38g) confectioners’ sugar
Directions
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Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch pan with cooking spray or softened butter. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment that goes up and over two opposite sides of the pan.
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To make the cake, whisk the hot water, cocoa and espresso powders in a large mixing bowl until combined. Whisk in the oil, the two sugars, and the molasses. Whisk in the vanilla, egg and yolk, one at a time, until combined. Whisk in the baking powder, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and white pepper one at a time, vigorously whisking after each. Sift in the flour, folding with a flexible spatula, just until the last streak of flour disappears. Be careful not to overmix.
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Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 38 minutes, rotating at the halfway point, until the surface of the cake looks set and dry but a cake tester comes out looking slightly wet. Don’t wait until the tester only holds dry crumbs or the cake might be overbaked. Let cool until you can lift the cake out of the pan by the parchment overhang without burning yourself. If the cake resists, run a butter knife around the two edges not covered in paper.
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Make the whipped cream. Your goal is soft peaks and you can achieve this by whisking all of the ingredients by hand in a large bowl, or with a hand mixer, or you can place all of the ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on medium-high for 3 to 4 minutes.
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Serve slices warm or at room temp with dollops of sour cream whipped cream. The cake will keep for 3 days on the counter tightly covered; and the whipped cream, too, will last for 3 days tightly covered in the refrigerator.
Jessie Sheehan is a celebrated cookbook author, recipe developer, baker, and host of Cherry Bombe’s baking podcast, She’s My Cherry Pie. She is the self-proclaimed queen of “easy-peasy baking;” and has contributed recipes and writing to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Epicurious, Food52, Bon Appetit, and more. Her third cookbook, Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy Recipes for Exceptionally Scrumptious Sweets and Treats was a New York Times best cookbook of 2022. And its savory sibling Salty, Cheesy, Herby Crispy Snackable Bakes, was published in the fall of 2024.
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