Recipe: Five Spice Gingerbread with Warm Lemon Sauce (9x9-inch)

WATKINS FIVE SPICE GINGERBREAD

"After a couple years of my longing, my husband unwittingly found a cobweb covered basket that contained the clipping from a Watkins brochure with the Five Spice Gingerbread recipe. :) I made it yesterday, the first thing my new KitchenAid ever produced. My husband is a cookie not cake fan(atic). But he loved this extremely flavorful stuff! It would be good with cinnamon ice cream and some cooked, spiced apples on top, too. (This is a cake-type gingerbread, not the cookie kind that makes little houses.)" - Elizabeth Stevens

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup hot water
TOPPINGS (optional):
Whipped cream and Lemon Sauce (recipe follows)
Whipped cream and fruit

Combine shortening, spices and salt and mix well. Gradually blend in sugar. Beat in egg. Add molasses alternately with flour.

Add 1 cup hot water, a little at a time, beating after each addition. Turn into a well-greased, lightly floured 9x9x2-inch baking pan.

Bake in preheated moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold, topped with whipped cream and lemon sauce, or fruit and whipped cream, or serve plain.

LEMON SAUCE
Source: America Cooks

3/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
Dash salt
2 cups water
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest

In saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually stir in 2 cups water. Stir in egg. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until thickened, but do not boil.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and zest. (If a bit of egg cooks independently, just pour through a strainer for a clear sauce.)

Serve warm over Five Spice Gingerbread.

Source: Elizabeth Stevens