Saskatoon Gingerbread Cake

Day 3 of Baking Week
My saskatoon bush has produced buckets of berries this year, so I have searched for new ways to showcase the fruit. Here is the result – fantastic taste and nice cake texture. Warm cake with vanilla ice cream melting on the top. Oh boy. For those without access to Saskatoon berries, blueberries would work well in this too.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup hot water
1 1/4 cups Saskatoon berries or blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9×13 pan and set aside.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together. Stir in the molasses, egg and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and stir until combined. (Use 2 Tbsp. of this mixture to toss the berries in so they become coated and do not sink to the bottom of the cake.)

In two sets, alternately add the dry ingredients and the hot water to the butter mixture.

Lastly, stir in the coated berries.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed.