If you ever tried my gingerbread cupcakes, then you definitely can’t turn your nose up at this gingerbread cake version with its unbelievably moist and luscious mouthfeel. The intense caramel hint surely awakes all your senses and gets your mouth water! Who said they are only for Christmas? My easy recipe will make it a year-round treat for everyone!
Why We All Fall For This Gingerbread Cake
Picture-perfect appearance: The velvety smooth frosting is loosely spread on the deep brown base, creating a head-turning visual contrast. A scattering of crimson cranberries on top adds just enough cheer to the warm palette. No need for much garnishing! The cake itself is a canvas of cozy holidays.
A harmonious blend of texture and flavor: The first bite surprises you with a creamy, spiced frosting that lingers to every taste bud, followed by a fluffy, moist cake with an explosion of caramel notes. A perfect pick-me-up on a drowsy afternoon or a chilly day.
Easy pairings: I have to admit that my version is a bit fancy (the frosting, the cranberries, blah blah), but guess what? You can enjoy the cake plain or keep it simple with a dusting of icing sugar. In the mood for something special? Pipe it with cream cheese frosting, caramel buttercream, or whipped cream.
Incredibly simple to make: With just 10 ingredients, you can whip up a stunning gingerbread cake for the whole family. There are other layered versions if you want to jazz things up a bit.
9 Steps To Make A Gingerbread Cake
Gingerbread Ingredients
As promised, you only need these 10 ingredients (plus some optional garnishes, of course):
- Flour: All-purpose flour will make a solid base for our toppings.
- Molasses: Give a nod to molasses for the gorgeous, eye-pleasing dark brown base and a burst of caramel flavor. My go-to is dark or unsulphured molasses, but light molasses also works fine. The blackstrap type is a no-go—it’s a bit too intense and infuses a smokey hint into my cake.
- Brown sugar: It adds more moisture to the batter while breathing in a subtle hint of toffee. Of course, white/granulated sugar can also work in a pinch.
- Spices: We need a whole crew of ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and salt in both the batter and the frosting. That’s the secret weapon for an aromatic treat, my friends!
- Butter: It adds more depth of flavor to the cake.
- Egg: A little goes a long way. Just 1 egg is enough to bind everything into a velvety texture.
- Warm water: Moisture! Moisture! Moisture! Stirring the molasses with hot water helps it blend more easily into the batter and gives us an incredibly moist cake.
- Vanilla extract: No need for further introduction! What cake recipe doesn’t call for a few drops of vanilla extract?
- Baking soda: We need this guy to lift our cake like a champ!
- Salt: Just a pinch to taste.
Instructions
Step 1
Position the rack lower, allowing ample space for our lovely baked goods to rise. Warm up your oven to 350°F or 177°C. Now, grab a pan and grease it with oil or cooking spray. You have some flexibility with the pan size here!
A 9-inch or 10-inch springform pan is the best bet because our cake’s gonna rise quite high. Or, you can use an 11×7-inch rectangle pan or a 9-inch square pan. Regardless, the bake time will stay the same.
However, my recipe might not make enough batter for a Bundt pan or a 9×13-inch cake pan, while a 9-inch cake pan will fall short.
Step 2
Whisk the all-purpose flour, ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Put it aside.
Step 3
Take a cup or a separate bowl to mix the molasses in the hot water (about 100°F).
The thick, sticky molasses might find it hard to team up with other ingredients. That’s why I recommend stirring it with warm water first (the heat will break down the thick texture more easily!).
Step 4
Throw ½ cup of butter in a mixing bowl and cream it for 1 to 2 minutes until creamy and smooth. Use your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a handheld one if that’s what you’ve got.
Now, beat in the brown sugar at high speed for 1 minute until the sugar gets pretty cozy with the butter. Scrape down any bit lingering on the bowl’s side with a silicone spatula.
Add the vanilla extract and the egg and beat on medium-high until nicely incorporated. Again, scrape down any lingering bit on the bowl’s side.
Step 5
Now, switch the mixer to lower speed, alternately beat in the dry ingredients (step 2) and the molasses mixture (step 3) in three batches, starting and finishing with the dry stuff to ensure a smooth blend. Mix until everything’s just combined, but don’t overmix it, or you’re begging for a tough cake.
Then, whisk the batter to check if any large lumps remain. We aim for a smooth, thick batter to reach a velvety cake texture in the end (some small lumps are okay, though).
Step 6
Baking time! Pour the cake batter into the greased pan and bake it for 35-37 minutes. As always, test its doneness with a toothpick: poke it into the center of the cake. It coming out clean means your cake is ready to serve! Oh, a few crumbs are totally fine, my friends, as long as they’re not too wet. Talk about the moist cake!
Step 7
Pop the cake out of the oven and let it rest on the wire rack to cool down completely. A hot cake will mess up your frosting!
Step 8
Here comes the frosting! Actually, you can just dust the cake with some powdered sugar and dig in. But who isn’t after a luscious, velvety treat? Not me and my kids!
Add 2 tablespoons of butter and cream cheese to a large bowl. Use a handheld or stand mixer to beat them until smooth and lump-free. It often takes me 2 to 3 minutes.
Then, toss in the confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and, of course, our star—spices (ground ginger, cloves, and cinnamon). Mix them for about 20 seconds on low speed and then crank up to high speed until you reach a velvety, creamy frosting. If it’s too sweet, sprinkle a pinch of salt and mix again to balance the flavor profile.
Step 9
Gently spread the frosting on top and sides of the cake (if you have enough). It doesn’t need to be picture-perfect, though; we all love the uneven surface. Slice it with a sharp knife, and enjoy!
Pro tip: Grease your knife before cutting since the cake is super moist. You don’t want that luscious goodness torn off while slicing, right?
Notes
Making gingerbread layer cakes
Feeling fancy? Let’s up your game from a simple one-layer gingerbread cake into a stunning three-layer crowd-pleaser. All you have to do is whip up the same batter as my recipe and pour it into three 6-inch round cake pans. The frosting is also enough for this layered cake.
Want something bigger, like a three-layer 9-inch cake? It’ll call for some elbow grease since you need to make the batter twice. We need about 6 cups of batter, so mixing all at once is quite heavy, making it hard for everything to combine. You have to double the recipe except for the molasses. For each batch of batter, I use only ½ cup of dark molasses, meaning 1 cup for the whole batter.
Prepare three 9-inch round pans, grease them, and fill the batter halfway through each pan. Then, bake them for 22 to 25 minutes.
Add lemon zest to the frosting
The creamy, spiced frosting might seem too much for some. You can add some lemon or orange zest to the frosting; its zing will cut through the richness beautifully.
FAQs
My Gingerbread Cake Turns Out Dry. Why?
Your gingerbread cake can be dry for a couple of reasons. Overmixing is the most common culprit. Overbaking or setting the oven too high also results in a dry, crumbly cake.
How To Store My Cake?
Easy! Just put it in an airtight container and stack it in the fridge; it will stay fresh for up to 5 days. Freezing it helps retain its flavor for 3 months, but you need to double-wrap it for no freezer burn and maximum freshness.
Happy baking! Share with me how yours turns out!
Discover More Unique Cake Recipes:
Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
Batter
- 2 cups spooned and leveled all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ⅓ tsp ground ginger
- 1 ⅓ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅓ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup dark or unsulphured molasses blackstrap is not recommended
- ¾ cup warm water about 100°F or 38°C
- 8 tbsp or ½ cup softened unsalted butter at room temperature
- ⅓ cup dark or light brown sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Spiced cream cheese frosting
- 8 ounces softened full-fat brick cream cheese at room temperature
- 2 tbsp softened unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 ¼ tbsp milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- A pinch ground ginger cinnamon, and cloves
- 1 tbsp sprinkles for garnish optional
- 8-10 sugared cranberries for garnish optional
Instructions
- Position the oven rack lower and warm up your oven to 350°F or 177°C. Grease a 9-inch or 10-inch springform pan. An 11×7-inch rectangle pan or a 9-inch square pan also works fine.
- Whisk the all-purpose flour, ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Put it aside.
- Take a cup or a separate bowl to mix the molasses in the hot water (about 100°F).
- Cream ½ cup of butter in a bowl for 1 to 2 minutes using a handheld or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat the brown sugar at high speed for 1 minute. Add the vanilla extract and the egg and beat on medium-high until nicely incorporated. Scrape down the bowl’s side.
- Alternately beat in the dry ingredients (step 2) and the molasses mixture (step 3) on low speed in three batches, starting and ending with the dry stuff. Keep mixing until combined, but don’t overmix it. Whisk the batter to check if any large lumps remain. If yes, continue beating.
- Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake it for 35-37 minutes. Test its doneness by poking a toothpick into the center of the cake. Your cake is ready to serve if it comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Pop the cake out of the oven and let it rest on the wire rack to cool down completely.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter and cream cheese to a large bowl and mix them with a handheld or stand mixer for 2 to 3 minutes. Throw in the confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and spices (ground ginger, cloves, and cinnamon). Mix them for about 20 seconds at low speed and then crank up to high speed until you have a velvety, creamy frosting. Sprinkle some salt if it’s too sweet.
- Spread the frosting on top and sides of the cake (if you have enough). Slice it with a greased sharp knife, and enjoy!
Notes
- Make a 3-layer 6-inch cake by whipping the same recipe and dividing the batter into three 6-inch round pans. For a 3-layer 9-inch cake, double the recipe by making the batter twice, except for using only ½ cup of molasses for each batch (1 cup in total). Pour the batter into three 9-inch round pans and reduce the baking time to 22-25 minutes.
- Add some lemon or orange zest to the frosting for an extra zing.