1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup brewed coffee, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Lemon Glaze, (click here)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 X 8-inch square baking pan. Set aside.
In a large bowl of a electric mixer, cream together oil, sugar and molasses. Add coffee and eggs to sugar mixture and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add to wet mixture and blend until no lumps are apparent. Batter will appear very thin and smooth.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate pan and bake for and additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until pick inserted into center comes out clean.
Once baked, top with glaze.* Cut into squares and serve.
To make the glaze penetrate the cake, use a toothpick or wooden skewer to poke holes at about 2-inch intervals.
The late Laurie Colwin said it best when she wrote in her book, "Home Cooking" (HarperPerenniel, 1988):
"Gingerbread made from scratch takes very little time and gives back tenfold what you put into it. Baking gingerbread perfumes the house as nothing else. It is good eaten warm or cool, iced or plain. It improves with age, should you be lucky or restrained enough to keep any around."
This recipe cuts down on the huge amounts of molasses used in some recipes and is a great way to use that extra cup of coffee that lingers in the coffee pot. If you are not a coffee drinker, you can mix one cup of coffee using instant coffee granules. Just follow the dilution instructions on the package.
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