Today is the first Sunday in Advent - only 3 Sundays more until Christmas.

Gingerbread anything tells you christmas is coming. If you missed the pumpkin-train with everything pumpkin leading up to the gingerbread and peppermint in everything, the christmas or December celebrations are here.

I do really love this time of year. The lights, the decorating, the cookie baking, It makes me happy. Well, somewhat stressful but happy.

Starbucks and most other coffeeshops sell these lovely gingerbread loafs during this season, and they taste so good with a warm cup of coffee. So I kick off my christmas/December celebration with my version of the coffeeshops Gingerbread loaf, a flavorful dark cake with a sweet but tangy frosting on top.

Makes 1 (9-inch) loaf.

Ingredients:

75 g brown sugar
113 g (1 stick) butter, salted and room temperature
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
120 ml molasses (mørk sirup)
225 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
120 ml (½ cup) buttermilk

Frosting:

225 g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
½ teaspoon orange juice
225 g confectionary sugar (powder sugar)

Sprinkle:

Candied ginger

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Grease a 9-inch loaf pan, and set aside.

Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg) in a medium bowl, set aside.

Cream the butter with the brown sugar, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between the addition. Mix in the vanilla and molasses. Fold in alternately dry ingredients and milk.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan. When cooled, mix the frosting, and frost the cake. Decorate the cake with candied ginger and serve it with a good cup of coffee.

Enjoy!