Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cake

The lovely Rosanne Toroian at Good Housekeeping magazine devised this gingerbread cake, and author Lori Longbotham thought it was the best one she had ever tasted. But, of course, she decided to add some chocolate chips. Don't be intimidated—it may look like lots of ingredients, but it's mostly spices that can be measured very quickly. Make sure to use natural cocoa powder.

Yield:

Serves 12

Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
2. 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
3. 1 tsp. baking soda
4. 1/2 tsp. salt
5. 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
6. 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
7. 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
8. 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
9. 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
10. 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
11. 1 package (12 oz.) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
12. 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
13. 1 1/4 cups sugar
14. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
15. 2 eggs
16. 1 cup dark molasses
17. 1 cup very hot water

Directions

1. Position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt® pan.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the 2 1/2 cups flour, the 1/2 cup cocoa powder, the baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and pepper.
3. In another bowl, toss the chocolate chips with the 2 Tbs. flour.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. In a 4-cup glass measure or a bowl, whisk together the molasses and hot water. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the molasses mixture in 3 batches, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with the spatula and beating just until well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and is firm to the touch, 55 to 60 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and let cool completely.
7. To serve, lightly dust the cake with cocoa powder and cut into wedges. Serves 12.

Notes