Classic Gingerbread Cake
"Most gingerbread recipes that are moist also suffer from a dense, sunken center, and flavors range from barely gingery to spice overload. Focusing on flavor first, we bumped up the ginger flavor by using ground ginger and grated fresh ginger and accented the ginger with cinnamon and fresh-ground pepper. As for the liquid components, dark stout had a bittersweet flavor that brought out the caramel undertones of the molasses. Finally, swapping out the butter for vegetable oil and replacing some of the brown sugar with granulated let the spice flavors come through. To prevent a sunken center, we incorporated the baking soda with the wet ingredients instead of the other dry ones, which helped to neutralize those acidic ingredients before they were incorporated into the batter and allowed the baking powder to do a better job. And vigorous stirring gave our bread the structure necessary to further ensure the center didn’t collapse...."