Recipe: Real Gingerbread Cake with Apple Cider Glaze

Makes 8 servings

3 1/2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground mace

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons finely minced ginger

½ cup molasses

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1 cup apple cider

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

¼ cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat a 10-cup Bundt pan or five 6- by 3-inch mini loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, nutmeg and mace in a medium bowl.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together until fluffy and light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the ginger and molasses and mix well to incorporate.

4. In 3 batches, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1 hour and 15 minutes for Bundt pant, about 45 minutes for the mini loaf pans. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool 1 hour.

6. Bring the apple cider to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; boil until reduced to about 3 tablespoons of thick syrup. Combine with the confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth. Frost cake with the glaze, sprinkle with the crystallized ginger and serve.

Recipe from Melissa Lehmkuhl from "The Farm to Table Cookbook," by Ivy Manning