Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cake

This cake was inspired by my favorite chocolate chip-ginger cookie—spicy, gingery, sweet, complex and chocolate-y! I love it so much; I even have two iterations of this cookie on my blog. 

 It’s a causal cake, but the frosting makes it feel extra special. It’s sweetly spiced, warm, unfussy and easy to make, plus totally delicious. The cake is sturdy, yet moist, sweet and spicy, with lots of dark chocolate scattered throughout. There are a lot of spices in this cake, including black pepper. Adding pepper to a cake might sound odd, but it adds a nice warming heat and marries perfectly with the other warm flavors, promise. 

To make the cake, begin with spices! I had whole cardamom and cloves on hand, so I just buzzed them up in a spice grinder. (You can use ground spices if you prefer.) Feel free adjust the proportions of spices as you like! It’s your cake, so if you want to leave out a spice or swap another one in, do so. Just be sure lots of ginger, though!

Next, gather your remaining ingredients. Lots of good things are happening in this cake.

Then, mix the batter and spread into a prepped pan. I like to line the pan with parchment and secure with binder clips before greasing.

Then, we bake the cake, cool it on a cooling rack and frost it! Dive in fork-first with a big glass of milk or strong cup of coffee on the side.