Chocolate-Ginger Cake with Bourbon Sauce

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chocolate ginger cake with boubon sauce
Photo: Lisa Hubbard
Servings:
10

This may look like a classic chocolate Bundt cake, but one bite tells you it's something more. Generous amounts of ground and freshly grated ginger give it a spice that's just right for the season. A bourbon-spiked sauce adds another layer of richness and flavor.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

  • ½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

  • ½ cup unsulfured molasses

  • ¾ cup packed light-brown sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • ¼ cup whole milk

  • 2 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon coarse salt

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • Bourbon Sauce

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9-inch Bundt pan. Dust with cocoa powder, and tap out excess; set aside. Put butter, molasses, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until butter has melted. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Let cool 5 minutes.

  2. Add eggs, milk, and grated ginger to the molasses mixture; whisk to combine. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, and cinnamon into a medium bowl.

  3. Gently fold the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until just combined. (There should be lumps remaining.) Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cake cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

  4. Invert cake, and unmold onto a cake stand or a large serving platter. Using a spoon, drizzle the warm bourbon sauce over the cake in a back-and-forth motion. Serve immediately.

Cook's Notes

Because ginger is fibrous, it can be difficult to grate. But if you store the whole unpeeled root in the freezer, it will grate cleanly. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, it will keep frozen for several months. When you want some, peel the part you need while it's still frozen, then grate; return the rest to the freezer.

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