Gingerbread Cream Cheese Loaf
Who knew a breakfast loaf could have so much flavor and taste? The bread is thick and rich thanks to the molasses. The flavor has been brought with the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and PEPPER. Yes, there is some ground black pepper and it is terrific. And lastly, the cream cheese swirl which makes it all that much creamier.
Its December and molasses has entered the chat. It is one of the greatest baking ingredients because it contributes the following to your baked dish: (1) SWEETNESS; but keep in mind that it isn’t as sweet as sucrose. (2) It darkens the cookie, brownie or bread which is definitely aesthetically pleasing. (3) It lends a CARAMEL flavor to your dish, with a little bitterness at the end, which is it’s signature flavor element.
The interior surprise cream cheese swirl is the cherry on this sundae. You can leave it out but why would you? It elevates the loaf and looks pretty amazing in the process. My original plan was to make the loaf and then top it with a cream cheese icing but thougth this would be much more fun. Glad I did it this way.
Make sure you place your loaf pan on a baking sheet since this is a very tall bread loaf with the cream cheese swirl. I place my loaf pan in the oven on the top rack and had a baking tray on the lower rack in case there was any spillage; which there was not. Serve this with some tea, coffee or milk for the perfect accompaniment.
Gingerbread Cream Cheese Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup dark molasses
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg, room temp.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Swirl:
- 1 egg, room temp.
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temp.
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 3 tbs flour
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease your 9×5" loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the molasses and hot water until smooth and set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream your butter on high until smooth. Beat in the sugar for 1 minute. Next beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated.
- In an alternating pattern, add in your dry, beat, then molasses and beat, in three cycles. Don't over mix. Transfer 3/4 of the batter to your loaf pan.
Cream Cheese Layer:
- In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy.
- Transfer this mixture to the pan and then top with the remaining gingerbread batter. Place the loaf pan onto your top rack in the oven and then place a baking sheet on the lower rack. Bake for about 60 minutes or until set and toothpick comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool completely prior to removing from pan.
