Dessertsbonappetit4.5
Dark Chocolate–Orange Gingerbread Cake
A festive, elegant gingerbread cake infused with orange and warm spices, and capped with a glossy dark chocolate ganache.
👥 8 Servings👤 Shilpa Uskokovic📖 bonappetit
🥘 Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you prepare them:
🍳 Cookware
- ●pan
- ●bowl
- ●whisk
- ●oven
- ●spatula
- ●saucepan
📝 Preparation Steps
1
Cake
2
Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°. Line bottom of an 8"-diameter cake pan with a parchment paper round. Lightly coat parchment and pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray or room-temperature unsalted butter. Whisk 1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, ½ tsp. baking powder, and ¼ tsp. baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix ½ cup mild-flavored (light) molasses and ½ cup water in a measuring glass.
Nonstick vegetable oil spray or room-temperature unsalted butter (for pan)½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour1½ cup (packed; 100 g) dark brown sugar½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt1 tsp
3
Whisk ½ cup (packed; 100 g) dark brown sugar, ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 Tbsp. finely grated ginger (from about a 3" piece), 1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest (from 1 medium orange), 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, and ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper in a medium bowl until light and creamy, about ⏱️ 5 minutes (if butter isn’t soft enough and mixture is hard to mix, smash butter with a rubber spatula at first to combine, then switch to the whisk). Add 1 large egg; whisk until emulsified, about ⏱️ 1 minute. Add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with molasses mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Vigorously mix until combined, about ⏱️ 2 minutes (batter may look curdled and that’s okay).
. finely grated ginger (from about a 3" piece)1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest (from 1 medium orange)1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon1 tsplarge egg1
4
Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth surface with a small offset spatula or a spoon. Bake until cake springs back when gently pressed, 40–⏱️ 45 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan ⏱️ 10 minutes. Run offset spatula around sides of pan, then invert cake out onto rack and let cool completely.
5
Ganache and Assembly
6
Place 3½–4 oz. 70% dark chocolate, chopped, in a medium bowl. Heat ½ cup heavy cream and ¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or Morton kosher salt in a small saucepan over medium just until beginning to simmer; pour over chocolate. Let sit ⏱️ 2 minutes, then whisk gently until smooth. Let ganache cool until pourable, about ⏱️ 30 minutes. (Or, chill, stirring halfway through, until pourable, about ⏱️ 10 minutes.)
½–4 oz. 70% dark chocolate, chopped3
7
Spoon ganache over cake (leave upside down; this will give you a nice flat top) and, using offset spatula, spread evenly over surface, letting some drip down sides. Let cake sit until ganache is fully set, about ⏱️ 30 minutes. (Or, chill about ⏱️ 10 minutes.) Transfer to a cake stand or platter to serve. Do Ahead: Cake can be baked 1 day ahead; store, airtight, at room temperature. Cake can be glazed 1 day ahead; store, covered with a cake dome or large bowl, at a cool room temperature.
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