I wanted to write a short post about a new favorite of mine.
Last year, while Christmas shopping at the local Target, I decided to stop at the Starbucks in the store for a drink because a had a gift card from Canvas on Demand (my favorite canvas company). When I was ordering a drink, a spotted the breads and cakes and just had the try one. It was the Starbucks Gingerbread Loaf. I was always a big fan of gingerbread as my mom would always take us to the local bakery before Christmas to pick out cakes and cookies for the parties. I always (and I mean always) got gingerbread men. But I had never gotten and even tasted the actual gingerbread. Starbucks Gingerbread Loaf was an instant favorite for me.
I attempted to go back several times during the season and even during year and get some more gingerbread, but they didn’t make it year round. Only during the holidays. DARN!
This year I decided to make my own version of the Starbucks Gingerboard Loaf. I scoured the internet for the recipe and found the perfect one. It even included the recipe for the frosting. My gingerbread come perfect, just a little thinner. Everyone loved it, especially my daughters. It was gone in half a day.
I love this stuff will be making much more over the next few weeks.
Here’s the recipe I used:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 1/4 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon orange extract, optional
1 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon baking soda
FROSTING
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt.
Then set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in orange extract.
Mix baking soda into applesauce and stir into creamed butter mixture.
Add flour mixture. Mix until smooth.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 to 50 minutes or until a
toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
FROSTING:
Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and orange extract. Slowly beat in confectioner’s sugar.
Once the cake has cooled, evenly spread the frosting on top. Decorate with chopped candied orange peel or candied ginger .
