Gigi’s Gingerbread with Whipped Cream Recipe

“When warm, the gingerbread is light and cakey — delicious,” says Food Network star Nancy Fuller. “If you let it cool and cover it for half a day or so, it becomes very moist, and the spicy flavor stands out even more — equally delicious, but a different cake altogether.”

Gigi’s Gingerbread with Whipped Cream

Serves eight

To make the gingerbread

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour (plus more for the baking pan)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (plus more for the baking pan)
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup molasses
• ½ cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8-inch-square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt onto a piece of parchment paper.
3. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about one minute. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the molasses and beat until combined.
4. Reduce speed to low and pour in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the boiling water, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix on medium-high for 10 seconds, to smooth out batter. Scrape mixture into the prepared pan.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the gingerbread comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes.
6. Serve squares of gingerbread with dollops of whipped cream, below.

To make the whipped cream

• ½ cup chilled heavy cream
• 2 Tbs confectioners’ sugar

1. Beat the cream in a clean mixer bowl with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed until frothy.
2. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until soft peaks form, about one minute.

Hudson Valley resident Nancy Fuller, star of the popular Food Network show Farmhouse Rules, shares a recipe for gingerbread — which she dubs a forgotten favorite — from her new cookbook Photographs by Jamie Prescott