Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, spices, baking powder, and baking soda together and lightly whisk. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the molasses, then the eggs and beat well. Add in the ginger.
Alternate between adding the flour and the milk to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Do not over mix, but keep the lumps to a minimum.
Evenly distribute the batter to the cake pans and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it when inserted in the middle of one of the cakes.
Remove the pans and allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cakes cool, make the buttercream. Beat the butter until completely smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and salt slowly, one cup at a time. Add the ground cinnamon and extract. (Note: You can use a tablespoon of ground cinnamon if you cannot find extract, but keep in mind, the buttercream will be darker in color. I wanted to only use a little ground cinnamon so the buttercream looks snowier.
Frost the cake as desired. I simply placed half the buttercream on top of each cake for a classic naked cake look.
Gingerbread Cookies
Mix together the flour and spices in a small bowl and lightly whisk. Set aside.
Beat together the butter, brown sugar, molasses, egg and vanilla together until smooth.
Slowly add the flour to the wet ingredients and mix well. Turn out the dough onto plastic wrap. Shape into a ball and tightly wrap. Flatten the dough into a disc and chill for at least four hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into ¼ inch in thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. If you want to make the little house I made, use this template I found online. Re-roll and scraps and keep cutting out cookies until the dough is used up. Work quickly as the dough gets soft very quickly.
Bake for about 8 - 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack. Once cool, decorate with icing.
Notes
To use the template, it is best to use something thick like stock paper to print out and cut. Firmly press the shape into the dough and use a knife to cut out the shape.This recipe was originally tested using Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free baking flour