Yesterday was Mr. MarthaAndMe’s birthday. Every year, he asks for gingerbread with lemon sauce for his cake. He always had this as a child too, except I think his mother used a mix. The lemon sauce recipe was printed on the box.
Over the years, I’ve developed my own gingerbread and lemon sauce recipe that I make once a year for him (I did once make it for a family Christmas party and it is a nice holiday dessert). The cake is dense, moist, and very deeply flavored – it’s based on my grandmother’s recipe, but has been altered to suit my sensibilities. The lemon sauce is sweet and bright. It’s a hit every year and the kids enjoy it. I’m pretty much the lone hold-out since I don’t care for raisins and hate trying to pick them all out.
Gingerbread Cake
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup molasses (I use blackstrap)
1 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup golden raisins
Preheat oven to 325. Mix butter, sugar and eggs. Add molasses and hot water then add dry ingredients. Stir in raisins. Bake in a 9 inch greased square pan for 50 minutes.
Lemon Sauce
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
dash of salt
2 cups water
juice of one lemon
4 tbsp butter
zest of one lemon
Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in water. Cook until it boils and is slightly thickened and clear. Use a whisk to prevent lumps. Remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon juice and zest. Serve hot.
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I love the combo of gingerbread and lemon. Mmmmm. Mr. Marthaandme has good taste. Do you think you could put the batter into a muffin tin and they’d still turn out?
Sounds fantastic — can’t wait to try to make this.
I think so, but you would need to bake for less time and you wouldn’t get quite the same texture. I think it would be more like eating around the edges of the baking pan. Everyone here likes the center – where the cake is soft.
Yes, this sounds like a good flavour combination and I’ve marked it to try. Thanks for sharing 🙂
That’s sounds and looks simply heavenly!
Okay, you made me drool once again. This combo sounds divine and like a huge treat!
Gingerbread with lemon sauce. I had forgotten about it until this post. My mom made this, probably with a gingerbread mix. Luckily, she left out the raisins. I’ll be trying your recipe soon.
I always love gingerbread – glad to have this recipe on hand! It sounds delicious.
My husband would love me to make this for him. Now the question is: would I love me to make it for him?
Good question! I make it once a year for his birthday.
This makes me think of my childhood. Nothing better than gingerbread — and I love the tartness of the lemon sauce. Happy birthday to Mr. Martha.
Sounds sooo good! I can’t wait to make this!
I’m a sucker for anything with ginger; in fact I’m drinking ginger tea as I type this. I’m not much of a baker, but I just might try this. I do bake both ginger scones and ginger cookies, since they’re my absolute fave treats!
Oooh. This sounds elegant and delicious! And the pix looks wonderful. Happy birthday Mr. MarthaandMe!
My daughter hates ginger, but likes gingerbread. I think she doesn’t notice the flavor of it so much with the other spices in this, but she does not like it in Asian dishes.
Yum! I make gingerbread occasionally, but I’ve never made it with lemon sauce before. It sounds like a lovely combo.
I can’t wait to try this recipe 😀 Thank you for posting it.