I love spicing up my life. Whether I am baking a new recipe like this all spice molasses cake with cream cheese frosting or pursuing interests that are beyond my comfort zone, life is much more interesting with more spice in it. Five weeks ago my wife and I, along with some new friends, entered a restaurant called Bubblemania without knowing much about it besides that they serve bubble tea. This place has been on my radar for years since I drive by it almost daily on my work commute. It always has a packed parking lot, but I never ventured out of my comfort zone to see what it was all about until recently. When we finally did step into Bubblemania for the first time, we were instantly changed and definitely out of our comfort zone! We were some of the only Caucasians in the whole place amongst Asians from many different nations. It was a culture shock in our backyard and we loved every second of it! We have been back a handful of times and can confidently say they serve the best bubble tea in all of Calgary, possibly in all of Canada.

On a baking note, consider jumping out of your comfort zone and spicing up your life with this delicious, scrumptious, and life changing molasses cake with cream cheese frosting. Go for it, you can do it, try it…..NOW!

Serves 15-18 peeps

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 cups              All purpose flour
1 cup                White sugar
1 tbsp               Baking soda
1 tsp                 Cinnamon
1 tsp                 All spice
¼ tsp                Ground pepper
½ tsp                Salt
1 cup                Butter, softened and cut into chunks
2 cups              Water, at room temperature
1 tsp                 Pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups          Molasses

Icing:

¾ cup               Cream cheese
8 tbsp               Butter
¼ cup               Sour cream
½ cup               Confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp              Salt

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 13×9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Cake:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, all spice, ground pepper, and salt.
• Add butter and mix in with your hands, a fork, or with a pastry whisk. Do this until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Measure out and reserve one cup crumb mixture for topping (over or under the icing).
• Combine water and molasses in saucepan and bring to simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring often, until molasses is fully dissolved, 1to 2 minutes. OR you can use really hot water and whisk the molasses until dissolved in a bowl. Let molasses mixture cool slightly and then add to the flour mixture until just combined. Do not over stir here.
• Using a spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth top, and gently tap on counter to settle the batter.
• Sprinkle the extra 1 cup crumb mixture on top and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cake cool in pan for 2 hours.

Icing:

• With a mixer, mix the cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until incorporated.
• Spread over the cooled cake and serve it up! Enjoy folks!