Laura’s Gingerbread

Laura’s Gingerbread

  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 55 mins
  • Servings: 16

    • About This Recipe

    “Laura Ingalls Wilder’s recipe from the Little House on the Prairie cookbook. She wrote in her original recipe, “chocolate frosting adds to the goodness.” My children and I agree! This recipe works well with or without the eggs.I tried it both ways–with the eggs gives you a more cake-like texture, without eggs is slightly denser.The results are so similar it was difficult to tell one from the other–wonderful either way!”

    Ingredients

  • 1cuppacked brown sugar
  • 1/2 cupshortening
  • 1cupmolasses
  • 2teaspoonsbaking soda
  • 1cupboiling water
  • 3cupsall-purpose flour
  • 1teaspoonginger
  • 1teaspooncinnamon
  • 1teaspoonnutmeg
  • 1teaspoonclove
  • 1/2 teaspoonsalt
  • 2largeeggs, slightly beaten

    • Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Grease an 8 x 8-inch baking pan.
  • Blend sugar and shortening in a small bowl; stir in the molasses.
  • Measure 1 cup of boiling water in a 2-cup measuring cup.
  • Add the baking soda and mix well.
  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour and the spices.
  • Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
  • Pour into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until cake is done.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature.
  • Gingerbread is delicious with applesauce, lemon sauce or whipped cream.
  • Laura herself liked to add chocolate frosting!

    • Reviews

  • “Absolutely scrumptious!!! I have finally found the ultimate gingerbread recipe!!! I must add… I have made this about 5 times now. I tried the choc. frosting last night–I couldn’t believe how DELICIOUS it was!!!! It enhances the ginger & is positively scrumptious!!”

  • “Very good ginger bread, I would add a bit more of the spices but i like mine a bit spicier.”

  • “I believe the cloves overpowered the flavor.”

  • “I’m living in China for a year, so I had to make some adjustments.I think it says a lot that even with the adjustments, this gingerbread turned out great!I used butter instead of shortening.I can’t find molasses here, so I substituted 1/2 of the amount with brown sugar and 1/2 with honey.I “baked” 1/2 recipe on a rack and in a small tin in my slow cooker for 1.5 hrs on high.Thanks for the note about the eggs.I tried the no-egg version.I was actually surprised that it turned out so well with all of my changes to your recipe.It was my first try at “baking” with a rack in the slow cooker.I’ve been missing all of the holiday food.Thank you for a little taste of Christmas!”

  • “This was my first attempt at making gingerbread, and I only had 3/4 cup of molasses, and just went with it…it turned out great.We served it warm with vanilla ice cream.It was very fun to make, and it made the house smell fantastic.”

  • “I loved this. I found the cloves to be the strongest flavor and that was a nice change. I used the eggs and butter instead of shortening. I baked mine for only 35 minutes in a glass 8×8 pan. It was a little dry…I’m not sure if it was because of the butter or the glass pan. This was especially good hot with butter and whipped cream. Yum! Made for Holiday Tag.”

  • “This was delicious!I baked it a couple of days ago, and it still tastes moist and fresh!It had just the right amount of spices, and was absolutely delicious!The only thing I changed was to add 1/2 teaspoon extra ginger to the mixture.My five year old twins and their little friend helped me make this, and they had a lot of fun!The aroma while the gingerbread was baking was heavenly!When it was ready, I spread individual slices with chocolate frosting. (Just like Laura!) I’ve never eaten gingerbread with chocolate frosting before, but it was wonderful!My little helpers kept coming back for “More gingerbread, please!” (It was that good!) This is a keeper.Thanks, Sharlene!”

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