Gingerbread Pudding Cake

In an attempt to clean out clutter, last week I went through a huge stack of cooking magazines, ripping out pages of recipes dog-eared as promising (and then completely forgotten about for years), and I happened upon a recipe for Gingerbread Pudding Cake from the December 2007 issue of Bon Appetit that sounded like the perfect dessert for a brisk Autumn evening at home.

Oh, and it was! This spice heavy ginger cake with a bottom layer of ginger pudding (I prefer to call it goo) is so good and perfectly homey, I think I'm going to make it again this weekend for a relaxed dinner at a friend's house.
First you make the batter, and pour in into a baking dish. Then you top the batter with brown sugar. Then...
you pour a mixture of water and melted butter on top of the brown sugar-topped batter, and shove it in the oven. Crazy! Kind of scary, too. But, fret not. It bakes up with a crackly cakey top and a gooey bottom. The goo is the best part. Whipped cream would be a heavenly accompaniment, but I had none. I would say I was sad about not having whipped cream, but I wasn't; the self-saucing cake is fabulous enough on it's own.Gingerbread Pudding Cake
adapted from Bon Appetit
serves 8

I used sorghum syrup in place of light molasses, because I have sorghum to burn in my pantry. Also, I have no allspice, so added 1/4 teaspoon more of each cinnamon and ginger.

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons beaten egg (from 1 egg)
1/2 cup sorghum syrup
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups hot water
5 tablespoon butter, melted

• Butter a 2-quart baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
• Mix flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl.
• In a large bowl, cream together 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup sugar. Beat in egg.
  
• Stir sorghum and 1/2 cup water in a measuring cup.
• Alternately add flour mixture and sorghum mixture to butter mixture, mixing to blend between additions.
• Pour batter into the buttered baking dish, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the top of the batter.
• Stir 1 1/2 cups hot water and melted butter in a small bowl. Gently poor over top of batter.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until top is cracked and toothpick inserted in to center comes out clean.