Celebrating a 40th Birthday!

No, not mine.  At least not yet.  This weekend, we celebrated my husband's 40th birthday.  Actually, we celebrated it last weekend too.  After Thanksgiving, we spent several nights in the NC mountains.  One afternoon while there, Abigail and her brother helped me surprise their daddy with a party complete with cake, 40 candles, a banner they made and party hats.  And, this weekend, the kids stayed with my parents (thanks mom and dad!) so that we could have a kid free weekend.

Purchasing bakery cakes is pretty much out of the question when you have an allergic family member.  I make all of our family's birthday cakes.  For my husband's birthday, I traditionally pick up a box cake mix (Pillsbury or Betty Crocker because of their good allergen labeling practices), a can of frosting and a jar of sprinkles.  This year, I'm making a serious effort to try to eliminate the additives and other junk ingredients from our diet, so I thought I'd bake a cake from scratch.  It turned out so good and was so easy to make that I wanted to share.

I found a recipe for an Old Fashioned Gingerbread cake on www.allrecipes.com.  After reading through many of the reviews and recipe suggestions, I found a version that sounded fabulous.  Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup pumpkin puree 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9" square pan (I used a 9" springform pan).  In a large bowl cream together the sugar and butter.  Beat in the egg and mix in the molasses and pumpkin puree.  In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and spices.  Blend this into the creamed mixture.  Stir in the hot water and pour into the prepared pan.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan before serving.

I used organic butter, flour and pumpkin puree.  Because we were heading out of town, I made the cake in advance and froze it which made it easy to transport in the cooler.  I thawed it in the refrigerator and then heated it for a few seconds so that I served it warm.  For an extra treat, I even made the whipped cream topping.  I will continue to make our own now that I know how easy it is.  It's so much better for you than the frozen whipped topping and canned whipped cream at the grocery store.

My husband and kids loved the gingerbread cake.  I even let Abigail eat a piece several mornings for breakfast thinking that it was better for her than a frozen waffle or bagel.   I'll definitely make this cake again...maybe even for Christmas morning!

Enough about the cake.  I want to wish a Happy 40th Birthday to my wonderful husband!  Here's to another 40!  Thanks for being such a fabulous guys!  Love you!