Pumpkin Gingerbread

I will admit, I wanted very much to make Pumpkin Ginger cupcakes, but the recipe called for butterscotch instant pudding and J was unable to find anything but sugar free. Boo aspartame!

So, Plan B. WOW. Slight modifications to the recipe per some reviews, so I've shown it here with commentary. The original recipe is here of course.

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar: I used 1 1/2 cups regular sugar, and 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
  
• 1 cup vegetable oil: I used 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger: I use a more liquid version that looks like this and NOT the powdered variety. I think this makes a huge difference!
  
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves: I left this out b/c I forgot. It did not suffer. I'll do it next time :-)
  
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin and ginger.
3. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.