Never Fail Gingerbread

It's a vegan dessert!

Never Fail Gingerbread
1/2 cup salad oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses (Brer Rabbit green label if you can find it. Otherwise, make sure it is unsulphured and not blackstrap molasses)
1 cup HOT water
2 cups flour, sifted (I skip the sifting, and sometimes use up to 1 cup of whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine oil, sugar, molasses in a large bowl. Sift (yeah right - just mix them together in a separate bowl with a whisk) together dry ingredients (flour, salt, soda, spices). Add dry ingredients to oil/sugar mixture alternately with hot water, beating until mixture is smooth. Batter will be thin.

Bake in a greased and floured (can skip this if using a non-stick pan) 8x8 or 6x10 pan at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Watch it -- it may be less!

Excellent served warm or cold. As a kid, this was a great vehicle for whipped non-dairy topping. As you might imagine such a product will not darken my door now, but whipped cream would be good, too. Dusting of powdered sugar or vanilla ice cream is another nice touch, but really it needs nothing. This tastes antique. Not in the dusty sort of stuff that needs to get thrown away, but in the last of the hour Antiques Roadshow way -- a showstopper.

This recipe is attributed to my mom's Aunt Maragaret. I don't know if other gingerbread cake recipes tend to fail, but this is the title I received. I have made this for many dessert emergencies since I tend to have the ingredients on hand. It has gone over well at potlucks, and since it is dairy, egg, and nut-free, it is a friendly thing to take.

* Do you recall using paper doilies to make patterns with powdered sugar? We used to do it with gingerbread or chocolate cake. Lay the doily on top and then sprinkle the sugar all over then carefully carefully remove the doily to reveal the delicate sugar pattern.