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Baking recipe · from the recipe book

Gingerbread Molasses Snack Cake with Cocoa Filling

A dark, moist molasses cake warm with ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves, hiding a fudgy cocoa-pecan ribbon through the middle.

Gingerbread Molasses Snack Cake with Cocoa Filling

Ingredients

  • 2 cups250 gAll-purpose flour
  • 1½ tbsp8 gGround ginger
  • 2 tsp5 gGround cinnamon
  • ½ tsp1 gGround cloves
  • 1¼ tsp6 gBaking soda
  • ½ tsp3 gSalt
  • ½ cup170 gMolasses
  • ⅔ cup packed140 gBrown sugardivided: 100 g for the batter, 40 g for the filling
  • ⅓ cup90 gCanola oil
  • 2 large100 gEggsroom temperature
  • ½ cup120 gUnsweetened applesauce
  • ⅔ cup160 gWaterhot
  • ¼ cup20 gUnsweetened cocoa powdersifted
  • ½ cup chopped50 gPecansfinely chopped
  • 2 tbsp28 gUnsalted butterdivided: a little for the pan, the rest melted for the filling

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9-by-9-inch pan with a little of the butter and line it with parchment; melt the rest of the butter for the filling.
  2. Make the cocoa filling first: in a small bowl stir together the unsweetened cocoa powder, the 40 g portion of brown sugar, the pecans and the melted butter until it looks like damp sand. Set the cocoa filling aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt.
  4. In a large bowl, whisk the molasses, the remaining 100 g portion of brown sugar, the canola oil, eggs and applesauce until smooth, then whisk in the hot water.
  5. Add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and stir just until no dry streaks remain; the batter will be thin.
  6. Pour half the batter into the pan, sprinkle all of the cocoa filling evenly over it, then pour the remaining half of the batter on top and gently spread to cover.
  7. Bake 38 to 42 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (a little melted filling is fine, but no wet batter).
  8. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for at least 1 hour, then lift it out and cut into 12 slices.

Food safety: Don't taste raw dough or batter: raw flour and raw eggs can carry germs.

Contains: Milk, Egg, Tree nuts, Gluten.

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Saved in the Every Helping recipe book on October 24, 2026.

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