Pomegranate-Glazed Gingerbread

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Pomegranate is a fun ingredient to use so much this time of year.  Its beautiful color just makes it feel festive right out the gate.  So making a dessert that combined pomegranate and the holiday season was a no-brainer!  I knew that the normal flavors of gingerbread would really be complemented by pomegranate.

Let’s get to it!

Preheat your oven and prep a loaf pan.  Grease the pan and then line with parchment paper and grease that.

The next step is to mix warm water with the molasses and pomegranate.  I like to do this in a 2-cup measuring pitcher to make things easier.

I used my Ginger Chocolate Chip Loaf recipe as my jumping off point for this recipe, but one of the modifications I made was swapping half the molasses for pomegranate molasses.  It made a big difference!  Pomegranate molasses is basically boiled down pomegranate juice so it’s much tarter than regular molasses which brightens up this gingerbread.  Set the mixture aside.

Now you’re going to mix together the dry ingrediants together in a bowl.

The next step is to cream the butter and sugar together using the paddle attachment.  Cream that a few minutes until it’s pale and fluffy.

Now add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla with the last egg and mix until all the egg is incorporated.

Then you’ll add the molasses and water mixture. Slowly pour it in while the mixer is going.

Next you’ll add the dry ingredient.  Mix until most of the flour is mixed in.  Mix it the rest of the way by hand until you don’t see any more streaks of flour.

Now pour the cake mix into your prepared loaf pan.  I made the mistake of not folding or clipping the parchment paper down.  When I went to pour in the batter the parchment paper folded inward and I ended up pouring batter on top of it.  What a mess!  I mention it here, so you can learn from my mistakes and fold over or clip the extra parchment paper over the side down, so this doesn’t happen to you.

Time to bake!  Bake for an hour and ten to twenty minutes.  It’s done when a taster or toothpick comes out clean.

Once it’s done, take it of the oven and let it cool in the pan for at least an hour and a half.  After that, take it out of the pan and put it on whatever plate you plan to serve it on.

Now you’ll make the pomegranate icing.  Pour the powdered sugar in a bowl and add the pomegranate juice and molasses and a pinch of salt.

Whisk together until it’s smooth.  Then you’ll slowly pour it down the center of the cake.  Just let it flow down the sides.  You’ll end up with some pooled on the plate.  I thought about reducing the icing amount in this recipe but this way people can add more on top of their slice of gingerbread if they like.

Let the icing set about an hour and then top with pomegranate arils.

I love the way this looks, the arils really do look like jewels.  The addition of pomegranate molasses really brightens up the flavor of this gingerbread.  The icing ensure it’s not too tart and the arils on top add a lovely pop.

Slice and serve.  You can store the gingerbread at room temp with the cut edge covered. It will last 3-4 days.

 

Enjoy!