Favorite Old Fashioned Gingerbread

"And had I but one penny in the world.  Thou shoud'st have it to buy gingerbread."

~William Shakespeare, Love's Labours Lost

This treat was a last minute thought.  I brought salads home for dinner and figured a dessert was in order.  Can't be TOO good, after all.  These first few chilly days of fall have got me thinking of comfort food, and gingerbread came to mind as it was something my mother often made.  Always, and this is important, served with home-made whipped cream, which I had a ritual of spreading down all sides of my square of cake, until it was fluffy white cloud.  

Some habits die hard

This cake is really, really easy and comes together quick.  I even switched out half the all purpose flour with wheat pastry flour and you couldn't tell at all.  This recipe came from Allrecipes and it was perfect.

Favorite Old Fashioned Gingerbread

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Beat in egg and molasses.   In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and spices.  Blend into the creamed mixture.  Stir in hot water.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 55-60 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.