The tale of this particular baking adventure is a little round-a-bout, so please, bare with me.

Back in November I made my dad’s favorite pie, pecan, for Thanksgiving. This of course left me with a nearly full jar of molasses and nothing else to bake. Thankfully, Christmas was right around the corner, which gave me the perfect opportunity to use up my molasses putting together some classic gingerbread cookies to share with the family.

The go to gal for any type of holiday cookie (besides Grandma), is Martha Stewart, of course. As a food and craft blogger, you can’t get around acknowledging her eventually; she essentially opened the door for all of us DIYing our way across the internet here. And like most food and craft bloggers, I have a somewhat complicated relationship with Ms. Stewart. Of course, I respect the hell out of her, but the pages of Martha Stewart Living don’t always translate to the “real” world. I tend to survey her recipes with a critical eye.

However, if you can’t trust Martha Stewart for Christmas cookies, you may as well just throw in the tea towel right now, so I grabbed the instructions for her Gingerbread Snowflakes and got to baking.

And she failed me.

The one thing you would think you could always count on Martha Stewart for, a solid and dependable Christmas cookie, and you would be find yourself sorely mistaken. I ended up with a double batch of dry, clumpy, cinnamon-scented cement.

I managed to salvage my cookie dough thanks to a fair understanding of the principles of baking and some mad doctoring skills. I came out with completely decent, even good, holiday cookies, but they were not gingerbread. And thus we get to the crux of our little tale, because I LOVE a good gingerbread. And by good, I mean deep, dark, and spicy as hell; go big or go home; don’t bring any of that light “gingerbread” into my house; and all the other appropriate idioms for saying, I take my baked goods seriously. And good gingerbread this was not.

Fast-forward to present day… By this point, I’ve developed a slight bitterness towards Martha, a yet to be assuaged desire for “real” gingerbread, and, through a series of inscrutable events, exactly as much molasses as I started with after Thanksgiving. It being the middle of the week and all, I don’t really have time to go crazy. No gingerbread stout bundt cakes, and certainly no dainty rolled cut-out cookies. Then I remember seeing a nearly one bowl gingerbread sheet cake on Smitten Kitchen just before Christmas which I think might be the ticket. Of course when I go take a closer look, who is the original recipe by? None other than Martha Stewart. The universe has a sense of humor.

I try to talk myself out of it, mostly just to comfort my bruised ego and soreness towards Martha, but the will for ginger pushes me over. Besides, if not only Martha, but Deb at Smitten Kitchen have both given it the stamp of approval, I’m pretty sure it will be more than acceptable.

It was most definitely more than acceptable. Quick, straightforward, and a snap to pull together, even after a long day at the office, I think this cake can be upgraded from just snacking to anytime. It doesn’t even have to be the holidays.

Gingerbread Snacking Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Martha Stewart

This recipe makes some serious gingerbread, especially since I upped the ginger and used a full cup of molasses. According to Deb at Smitten Kitchen, “for a moderate intensity gingerbread cake, … swap 1/3 cup of the molasses with honey or golden syrup. If you can’t get molasses, use black treacle syrup.” You may also reduce the ginger down to 2 teaspoons.

Tools: 2 9″ baking rounds, 1 large saucepan, 1 medium mixing bowl, whisk, wooden spoon, sifter or fine mesh strainer, and parchment paper

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus more for pan
1 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup unsulfured molasses
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

For finishing: Royal or Cookie icing, or confectioners’ sugar, for dusting finished cake

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 9″ round baking pans with parchment paper. Butter and flour the parchment and sides of cake pan (or coat with a nonstick baking spray).

2) Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan and add the baking soda (it will foam). Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in butter until melted. Whisk in dark brown sugar, and molasses. Mixture should be lukewarm, but if it still feels hot to the touch, allow to cool an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

3) Measure out the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt and baking powder and set aside in a bowl. Get out a fine-mesh strainer or sifter so that you can sift the dry ingredients over the wet in the next step.

4) Using a strong wooden spoon, stir the eggs into your molasses mixture until just combined. Sift dry ingredients over wet, then stir the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined.

5) Split batter evenly between the two prepared pans; bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

6) Transfer cake to a wire rack and let cool completely. Once cool, cut around cake to make sure no parts are sticking to the side and invert cake out onto a rack, then onto a serving plate. Drizzle with icing or dust with confectioners’ sugar as desired, and cut into wedges.

Storage: Cake keeps at room temperature for up to a week in an airtight container.