Gingerbread recipes date back hundreds of years, but cake-like versions like this one come into being in the 19th century, with the ready availability of chemical leaveners like baking soda and baking powder.
This recipe is adapted from Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book and Marketing Guide[1]. I stayed as close as I could to the original, substituting baking powder for the saleratus (an early version of baking powder). Like the original owner of the book, I cut the recipe to one third.
This is not as sweet as modern recipes. Most modern recipes add another 1/2 cup of sugar. Personally, I prefer it this way. It is also not as spicy as modern recipes, which would add a teaspoon of cinnamon.
If you look at the original recipe, you notice the complete lack of instructions. This is pretty typical. These books assumed the reader was already familiar with general cooking techniques, and would only explain things that were out of the ordinary. When dealing with recipes like this, I often look up modern recipes that are similar, for things like oven temperature and baking time.
Soft Gingerbread
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup cream (milk or buttermilk should also work)
- 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 egg, separated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan.
- Mix flour, baking powder and ginger thoroughly in a large bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl, beat egg yolk into the butter until well mixed and creamy. (Egg yolks are emulsifiers, they help oils stay mixed in liquids.)
- Next, whisk in the molasses, then egg white, then cream.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing only enough to wet it all. Pour the batter into the baking pan, then bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 8-10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
