Gingerbread
Tips: - The book notes this batter also works baked as small individual cakes, about 3 inches in diameter. You'll need: 8-inch square baking pan, greased. Adapted for home kitchens by Halite from the U.S. War Department's Army Recipes (TM 10-412, 1946): scaled down from 100 servings, 1946 ingredients swapped for ones sold today, and the method rewritten. The recipe as printed is the Original version in this recipe's history.
Ingredients
- 27g (2 tbsp) Vegetable shortening, or butter or lard
- 41g (3 ½ tbsp) Sugar
- 50g (1) Eggs
- 142g (7 tbsp) Molasses
- 122g (1 cup) Flour, sifted
- 1.3g (¼ tsp) Baking powder
- 2.6g (½ tsp) Baking soda
- 0.85g (⅛ tsp) Salt
- 2.1g (1 tsp) Ginger
- 0.85g (¼ tsp) Cinnamon
- 85ml (⅓ cup) Water
Instructions
- 1
Stir the vegetable shortening until soft and smooth.
- 2
Add the sugar gradually; mix thoroughly.
- 3
Add the eggs a few at a time, beating well after each addition until well mixed; beat thoroughly at this stage for a light, tender cake.
- 4
Add the molasses and beat well.
- 5
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon together twice.
- 6
Add the dry ingredients and the water alternately to the egg-and-sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
- 7
Mix thoroughly, but avoid overmixing.
- 8
Spread the batter in the greased baking pan. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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Gingerbread
Ingredients
- 1 pound (½ No. 56 dipper) Shortening
- 1 ½ pounds (¾ No. 56 dipper) Sugar, granulated
- 5 eggs (¼ No. 56 dipper) Eggs
- 1 ¾ quarts (1¾ No. 56 dippers) Molasses
- 4 ½ pounds (4½ No. 56 dippers) Flour, sifted
- ¾ ounce (2 mess kit spoons) Baking powder
- 1 ½ ounces (2½ mess kit spoons) Baking soda
- ½ ounce (1 mess kit spoon) Salt
- 1 ¼ ounces (5 mess kit spoons) Ginger
- ½ ounce (2 mess kit spoons) Cinnamon
- 1 ½ quarts (1½ No. 56 dippers) Water
Instructions
- 1
Stir shortening until soft and smooth.
- 2
Add sugar gradually ; mix thoroughly.
- 3
Add unbeaten eggs a few at a time, beating after each addition until well mixed. Beat thoroughly at this stage to insure a light, tender cake.
- 4
Add molasses and beat well.
- 5
Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon together twice.
- 6
Add dry ingredients and water alternately to egg and sugar mixture, first adding about Vz dry ingredients, then Yi, water, then another Vz dry ingredients and remaining water and dry ingredients.
- 7
Mix thoroughly but avoid overmixing.
- 8
Place in greased sheet pans. Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 30 to 35 minutes or until done. Note, This recipe makes 2 sheet pans (18 by 26 by 1 inches) or 7 loaf pans (9J^ by 4J4 by ly^ inches) or 200 individual cakes each 3 inches in diameter.
Typed from the page scan above. If the two disagree, go with the scan.
What we changed
- Cut from the book’s 100 servings to 6 servings.
- Swapped “Shortening” for “Vegetable shortening” (or butter or lard).
- Scaled 11 amounts and rounded each to a kitchen measure, like ½ cup.
- Fixed 8 fractions the scan of the 1946 page misread.
- Tidied 1 ingredient name.
- AI rewrote the method for a home kitchen. Tap As printed at the top to compare.
Taken from the log we keep of every edit to this recipe. We left out the line-by-line unit conversions.
Where this recipe comes from
It’s from Army Recipes (TM 10-412), the cookbook the U.S. War Department printed in 1946 for Army mess halls. As a U.S. government work, it’s in the public domain.
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