Mountain News Favorite Recipes - Gingerbread Snacking Cake

Another favorite Martha Stewart recipe. This is easy and so good. Love having this around, especially at this time of year. You can make it have a bit of a spicy bite if you add pepper!  Oh yeah.......

Gingerbread Snacking Cake

8 Tblsp. (1 stick) butter, room temp
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1 tblsp. freshly grated ginger (or more!) (don't worry if you don't have this. It's still good without it.)
2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
1-2 tsp. black pepper or 1/2 tsp. cayenne for spicy bite (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 13 cake pan.
In a bowl combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, ground spices, salt and baking powder; set aside.
In yet a third bowl, cream butter with a mixer (or by hand), then  beat in brown sugar until well  mixed and fluffy. Beat in molasses and grated ginger, baking soda mixture, flour mixture and eggs. (Add pepper here if you want it.)
Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes. Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar if you want.
This gets better with age. More moist every day. YUM.