I’m not sure I’ve ever been so excited for a holiday break. My plan is to do nearly nothing! Except of course watch a lot of television in my pajamas, spend some quality with the family and I might, might attempt making tamales.

Living on the east side of Los Angeles has a lot of benefits, one of them being the abundance of really great Mexican supermarkets that have lots of masa dough all mixed and ready to go for tamale-making. I’ll let you know how to it goes, if it goes well, expect a recipe from me next year!

One thing that will absolutely be accompanying tamales are these cute lil’ gingerbread cakes. I have a mini pound cake pan that is quite perfect around the holidays because it means you can make things even cuter. Of course, you don’t need it to make this recipe. A bundt pan will work just great. The gingerbread cake is soft and ginger-y. It definitely has some spice but not too much where it actually hurts your sinuses. I say this is a friendly gingerbread cake with some rich flavor going on. And it’s made better by the glaze with a bit of orange zest.

Mini Gingerbread Cakes

Top these little cakes with homemade glaze and a hint of orange zest for the holidays! (Recipe Credit: Adrianna Adarme of the Fresh Tastes blog)

Ingredients

• Prep:
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• For the Dry Mix:
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• For the Wet Mix:
• 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• ½ cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup of stout beer (allow the foam to subside so it measures a true 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup un-sulphured molasses
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• For the Glaze:
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoons whole milk
• Pinch of salt
• Zest from 1 orange

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a mini pound cake pan. If you don’t have one, no worries! This recipe will work great in a 12-cup bundt pan or two 8x4-inch loaf pans.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground nutmeg and black pepper.
3. In a separate large bowl, combine the brown sugar, white granulated sugar, vegetable oil, baking soda, eggs, beer, molasses and freshly grated ginger. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients; mix until thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the floured mini pound cake pan or bundt pan or loaf pans, and smack it against the counter a few times to eliminate any bubbles.
4. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes for mini loaf pans, 45 to 50 minutes for a bundt pan or 25 to 30 minutes for a loaf pan. You’ll know when it’s ready when a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes (or cake) in the pan for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack atop the pan and invert the cakes to cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. If they’re not easily coming out, you may need to run a butter knife alongside the outside edge.
5. Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl. Pour in the whole milk and pinch of salt; whisk until very smooth. When the cake is room temperature, pour the glaze over the cake. Grate the orange zest over the cake. Allow the glaze to set before slicing.

Yield: 16 mini pound cakes; 1 (12-cup) bundt cake; 2 loaf cakes

Adrianna Adarme is a food blogger and author living in Los Angeles, California. She writes the blog A Cozy Kitchen, where she shares comforting, everyday recipes from her kitchen. She recently authored her first cookbook, PANCAKES: 72 Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Perfect Stack. She’s a lover of breakfast, pie (and sometimes even pie for breakfast), corgis and cute things. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.