Gingerbread with Forest Honey
I LOVE Gingerbread! It reminds me of my Oma. Sitting in her kitchen with a cup of hot Chai Tea and enjoying some home-baked spiced cake! Molasses is typically used when making American style gingerbread, for its strong flavor. Well, I've got to tell you, that our Melato honey is a step up. It's THE perfect match for gingerbread. Of course, it's also delicious drizzled on top of a warm slice! =) The flavors of the Melato forest honey go perfectly with all the spices we used in this recipe. The applesauce we added gives the cake a little extra natural sweetness and also helps keep the cake super moist. It's fluffy and not too dense, which I also love. This cake is great because you can enjoy it for many days, it just keeps getting better as you let it soak in the flavor. We always make a double batch so that we can gift it to friends and family and also stick a loaf in the freezer!
Our Melato - Forest honey is like Molasses, but 100x tastier!
Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
2 whole star anise (which you will soak in the water listed below)
4 whole cardamom seeds (which you will soak in the water listed below)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg,
3 shakes of clove
5 shakes of ground ginger
Pinch of sea salt
Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of oil: we used avocado
1/4 cup of water
1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
Directions:
A side note, this recipe can be made in one baking pan (depending on the size), but we typically will you two loaf pans for this batch of dough, We like when the gingerbread is not "too high", plus it bakes faster if you split the mixture into two pans. It's also easier to cut into little squares for serving!
Preheat oven to 325F. Coat a baking pan, we typically use butter for this. Heat the water (bring to a boil) and add the cardamon and star anise. Allow the water-spice combination to infuse for about 10 minutes. Then strain the water from the spices and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cinnamon. In a separate bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, honey, applesauce, vanilla, and the “spice-infused” water. Add the dry mixture to the wet, slowly until combined. Spread the batter into the pan, and bake for about 40 minutes. Check with toothpick, to make sure it comes out clean. Allow the pan to cool for about 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Remember: always use sustainably sourced honey!
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