Gingerbread Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

This cake requires dirtying only one bowl, and makes the house smell like a dream. Omit the frosting and enjoy it for breakfast, or go the decadent route and add it. Don’t forget the flaky salt on top! While a lot of people relegate gingerbread to the holiday table, I love it during all the cold weather months: fall and winter combined.

Gingerbread recipe from: Whole Grain Mornings

Ingredients

For the cake:

3/4 cup (120g) whole wheat flour

1 cup (120g) spelt flour (or sub all purpose-flour if you'd like)

1/2 cup (75g) natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger (totally optional)

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons grated orange zest

8 tablespoons (115g) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan

1/2 cup (120 ml) blackstrap molasses

3 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup (120 ml) whole milk

1/4 cup (60 ml) plain whole-milk yogurt

1 large egg, beaten

For the Maple Frosting:

4 ounce cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted confectioners sugar, plus more if desired

3 tablespoons maple syrup

flaky salt (like Maldon), to sprinkle on top

Instructions

Make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-inch square pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, three kinds of ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and orange zest. Use your hands to break up any clumps of sugar and whisk well.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the molasses and honey and cook, stirring, until the mixture is warm but not boiling. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the milk, yogurt, and egg and fold together until combined. With a little arm power, the mixture will soon look like brownie batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the edges pull away from the pan slightly and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Let the gingerbread cool completely in the pan before frosting.

Make the frosting: In a medium mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter on medium-high until they’re well blended and smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the sugar and maple syrup and beat well until silky and smooth. If you like your frosting a little thicker, simply add additional confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Frost the cake: Spoon the frosting out of the bowl and onto the cake. Use an offset spatula (or knife) to spread frosting evenly onto the top of the cake. Sprinkle with flaky salt.