Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Makes: About 6 small houses
2½ cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons ground ginger
3⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups packed dark brown sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup regular molasses
1 cup whole milk
Whipped cream, for spackling and serving
Basic buttercream (recipe follows), for decorating
Lemon sauce (recipe follows), for serving
1. Whisk In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. Fluff: Using a stand mixer, the paddle attachment, and medium speed, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy, 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time; beat fluffy. Beat in molasses and milk.
3. Mix: Sprinkle dry ingredients and mix to combine.
4. Bake: Scrape into a 9-inch square cake pan (or 12 buttered and floured gingerhouse molds or 12 square muffin cups). Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick poked in center comes out clean, 25 minutes for small cakes, 50 for large. Cool 10 minutes. Unmold. Cool.
5. Build: Cut the 9-inch cake into cubes (house bases) and triangles (roofs). (Say, nine 3 x 3 x 3 cubes. Cut three of those cubes in half into triangles, yielding six house bases, six house roofs.) Simply set roofs on bases or cement with whipped cream. Decorate extravagantly with candy (use buttercream, below, as glue) or simply with a shake of powdered sugar.
6. Admire: A few gingerbread houses make a nice neighborhood tabletop. Before dinner they can serve as place cards. After dinner, doused with lemon sauce and accompanied by whipped cream, they double as dessert.
Basic buttercream: Beat together 1 stick softened butter and 2 cups powdered sugar. Flavor with 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract if you like. Use to stick candy to house.
Lemon sauce: Whisk together 1/2 cup sugar, zest and juice of 2 lemons, zest and juice of 1 orange, and 3 egg yolks in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until hot, frothy and thickened, 10 minutes. Stir in 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed. Strain. Serve warm.