Gingerbread Cake

If you were born on Christmas Eve, your birthday can get lost in all the Christmas celebrating. So, at our house, we try to forget all things Christmas, on December 24, for most of the day, and just focus on birthday...

My husband loves anything associated with ginger: gingerbread, gingersnaps, ginger cookies, ginger ale [Vernors, of course], etc. etc. So for his birthday, on Christmas Eve, I always make him this gingerbread birthday cake:



Cake:
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
6 tbsp. soft butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
½ cup molasses
2 eggs
½ cup sour cream
powdered sugar
1 whole almond*

Mix flour and soda in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter, brown sugar, spices, and salt in a large bowl until fluffy. Blend in molasses. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add sour cream alternately with flour mixture and beat hard until smooth. Pour into a buttered 9-inch square cake pan. Bake in center of oven @ 350º for about 30 min. (I bake the cake in a plum pudding steamer pan, without the lid, at 325º for one hour.) Cool on wire rack for 10 min. *Before turning out cake, randomly insert the almond into the cake so it cannot be seen.* Dust with powdered sugar on top when cooled.

Sauce:
1 small lemon
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. corn starch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 cup water
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. soft butter

Grate lemon peel. Peel lemon including peel and white. Cut the lemon into chunks, letting the juice and lemon fall into a a bowl. In a sauce pan, combine sugar, corn starch, and salt. Add water, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick and clear. Add lemon peel, juice, lemon, and butter. Stir. Serve hot over slices of gingerbread cake, and top with whipped cream.

*i put the almond in the cake to determine who will play Santa the next day. Whoever gets the almond will hand out the presents on Christmas day, and also get a chance to peek early for the hidden pickle ornament on the tree...