Gingerbread Cake

I picked up a Nordic Ware train pan this past summer on clearance. I thought it would be fun to make a gingerbread cake in the pan and have each of the kids decorate a segment of the train, since gingerbread houses are too difficult to do with preschoolers. Unfortunately, my project for the kids took a turn for the worse when I realized that the pan only made enough for nine. I have ten children, and for some reason I didn't realize this while baking the cakes. I gave the pan a quick glance and thought there was twelve like a regular cupcake pan (I know, I know...brain fart). I started out showing the kids how to decorate their cakes by doing one as an example. Then I let the youngest child go first, which was Nate. He isn't even quite two years old yet, so he was a bit hard to handle during all this. He started chowing down on all the candy, and then wanted to eat his cake (we were going to save them for snack-time). After I told him he had enough candy to eat, he wanted to carry around his train. I told him to put it back on the table, which then resulted in a HUGE temper tantrum, causing his train to fall on the floor. While trying to salvage his train and diffuse his temper tantrum, I realized then that I didn't have enough trains for everyone. AGGGHHH! I shouted, "This was supposed to be fun!"
Okay, so clearly I needed to solve a case of problems. I gave the one train I did as an example to ET, I salvaged Nate's from the floor (five second rule applies, ya know), and I gave the engine of the train (which was a bit larger than the rest) to a brother and sister in the daycare. Nobody minded a bit, and all of the kids were still super happy. They got to eat M&M's while playing with frosting...what kid wouldn't be happy?
With all this craziness, I knew it was God's way of telling me not everything has to be perfect. With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, things can get a bit hectic. We may not get to everything on our list of "to-dos", but that isn't the intent of the holiday. I am sure all you Mom's out there want to make every moment special for your children this Christmas, but let us all not forget the true meaning...God showed his love for us through the birth of his only son; Jesus Christ. Let that be at the forefront of your heart this coming week, and let no stress cloud that thought. Merry Christmas!

FYI - This cake is so much better the day after it has baked.

Recipe from Joy of Baking

Gingerbread Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup 113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (120 ml) unsulphured molasses (To prevent the molasses from sticking to the measuring cup, first spray the cup with a non stick vegetable spray.)
1 cup (240 ml) milk

Gingerbread Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour a 9 inch round or square cake pan with 2 inch sides.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

In bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the molasses and beat to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients and milk, alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan. Let cool completely and then, if desired, frost with whipped cream.

I made 1 1/2 times the amount for the train cake.  This amount of ingredients filled two train cake pans full.  I simply sprayed the cake pan with Pam for baking and filled each well to wheels.