Instructions

make the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line three 6″ cake pans with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together sugar, molasses, and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Carefully fold dry ingredients into wet until mostly combined.
4. Fold in apples. Distribute batter evenly into prepared pans (1 1/2 cups of batter per pan).
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

make the frosting

1. To make frosting, whip mascarpone in a standing mixer on high speed for 1 minute. Lower speed and add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, ginger, and salt, mixing until combined.
2. Place the first layer of cake onto a cake stand, then top with a heaping ½ cup of frosting. Spread to edges, smoothing evenly. Repeat with second and third layer.
3. Add remaining frosting to sides of cake, then use a cake scraper or flat cake knife to smooth frosting out around edges.
4. Top cake with candied ginger pieces and fall-like branches. I chose purple/green branches with small buds on them!