While gingerbread men are traditional at Christmas, they can be really hard to make on a boat — it’s hard to roll out the dough and cut the men, and it can take forever to bake them if you can only fit 4 or 5 men on the small cookie sheet that will fit inside your boat oven.
This gingerbread cake can be just as impressive with a bit of easy decorating, but is much, much easier to make. First, it’s designed to be made by hand, and takes less than 10 minutes to whip up. Most boat ovens will hold a 9″ x 13″ pan, so you can bake it all at once.
One pan makes it easy to store or take to a Christmas party. And you can cut pieces as large or small as you like, depending on whether there are other goodies . . . and how many people there are!
And you can do all sorts of fun decorations, depending on what you have available. By the way, even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, it’s still a great recipe!
Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar (I’ve successfully substituted up to half Splenda)
- 1 cup canola oil (can use half unsweetened applesauce)
- 1 cup molasses
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. and grease a 13″ x 9″ pan.
- In a large bowl, mix the oil, sugar and molasses with a spoon.
- Add the eggs and beat until totally mixed.
- Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger and allspice and stir until it’s all a smooth mixture.
- Pour in the boiling water (tip: measure the water before you heat it and you don’t have to worry so much about spilling it if the boat moves) and quickly beat it in. The batter will be very thin — don’t worry, it’s supposed to be that way.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350° F. for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan before doing any decorating — or allow to cool slightly and serve warm.
Notes
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