Gingerbread

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch square pan. Set aside. Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside. In a bowl, beat the butter until creamy, then gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy. Add the egg and beat until smooth, then beat in the molasses. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the boiling coffee, mixing until just combined. (The batter will be thin.) Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. To make a special presentation, you can top the gingerbread with a design made from confectioners sugar. To do so, use a triple thickness of decorative paper doilies. Remove any excess uncut paper. Fasten the doily to the top of the gingerbread with toothpicks or pins. Sprinkle over and around the doily with sifted confectioners sugar. Remove the picks or pins and lift the doily straight up. There should remain a lacy snowflake design of powdered sugar.

YIELD: 6 to 8 servings