This deeply spiced and moist gingerbread cake is great any time of day, whether or not served plain or dressed up with spiced cream cheese frosting. You may make it as a single layer spherical or sq. cake, or attempt the layer cake model detailed within the Notes. Irrespective of the way you bake and serve it, it is a traditional gingerbread recipe the entire household will love throughout the vacation season!
Reader MK commented: “Soooo scrumptious! My grandma used to make gingerbread yearly and by no means used a written recipe. That is the closest factor I’ve tasted to it in years. ★★★★★”
Nothing tastes extra like the vacations than the nice and cozy, cozy flavors of gingerbread. The odor of ginger, cloves, and molasses can immediately transport anybody’s mindset to December.
Each vacation season, I make my favourite gingerbread cookies, and gingerbread waffles are quick turning into a favourite winter weekend custom in my home, too. However what about simply, merely, gingerbread? A candy, spiced stick-to-your-fork-moist cake that may do double-duty as Christmas morning breakfast and dessert… welcome to my quintessential gingerbread recipe!
Whereas including a layer of cream cheese frosting makes it an exquisite vacation dessert, this cake can be simply as welcome as a particular vacation breakfast, snack, or late-night last-minute gift-wrapping gasoline.
Gingerbread has no time-of-day limitations. 😉
Why You Will Love This Gingerbread Snack Cake
- A 1-layer cake, excellent for if you aren’t feeding an enormous crowd
- You’ll be able to even make it as an the other way up pear gingerbread cake
- Heat, comforting vacation flavors of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves
- Moist cake crumb, not dry or dense in any respect
- Prime with spiced cream cheese frosting, get pleasure from it plain, with whipped cream, or with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar
- Adaptable to different pan sizes—see under
- Fast and straightforward prep makes for a low-maintenance vacation dessert
Components You Want:
- Flour: The bottom of the gingerbread cake recipe.
- Baking Soda: As you might have learn in my baking powder vs. baking soda submit, molasses and brown sugar are each acids. So we want baking soda to offer the cake its carry!
- Spices: Floor ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt—the gingerbread mainstays.
- Molasses: Along with the spices, molasses is the opposite signature taste in most gingerbread recipes. I like to recommend utilizing unsulphured or darkish molasses, not blackstrap, which has a extra intense taste that’s a bit an excessive amount of in baked items. (I at all times use Grandma’s model molasses.)
- Scorching Water: As you’ll examine under, whisking the thick, sticky molasses with scorching water earlier than including it to the batter makes every little thing come collectively simply. The water additionally provides supreme moisture to every chew.
- Butter: You simply can’t beat the flavour of this baking staple!
- Brown Sugar: Sweetening with brown sugar supplies additional moisture + additional molasses taste.
- Egg: 1 egg serves to bind the substances collectively, and provides richness.
- Vanilla Extract: As a result of, you understand, cake. 🙂
How one can Combine Sticky Molasses Into Cake Batter
Whisk the molasses with scorching water earlier than including it to the batter. Why? As you understand, molasses could be very thick. The thick goop, for lack of higher phrases, doesn’t combine simply into cake batter. It’s high quality for cookie doughs resembling iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies and gingerbread cookie bars, however scorching water helps loosen the viscous consistency of molasses, which helps incorporate it right into a thinner cake batter.
The ensuing cake is dense, but tender. Buttery and tender. Completely spiced, impeccably flavored.
The remainder of the prep work is fairly easy, too. You’ll cream the butter and brown sugar collectively, so an electrical mixer is undoubtedly useful (you’ll want it when you make the frosting, too). Because the recipe instructs under, add the dry substances and water/molasses combination to the moist substances in separate additions.
The batter is a little bit thick, and a few small lumps are OK:
Completely different Pan Dimension Choices
It is a versatile gingerbread cake recipe. It may be made a large number of the way: as a 1-layer spherical, sq., or 11×7-inch rectangle cake; as a gingerbread loaf cake; or as a layer cake. I initially revealed this recipe in 2015, and when testing this recipe as soon as once more this 12 months, we tried all of those variations so we might let you know which pans work and don’t work. We went by way of a LOT of molasses, and had a LOT of cake to offer out.
Right here’s what we all know: The recipe as written makes about 3 cups of batter, and weighs about 850–890g. A 9-inch springform pan is greatest as a result of this gingerbread cake rises fairly excessive. It doesn’t matter what measurement pan you utilize, bake the cake at 350°F (177°C). Use a toothpick inserted within the middle of the cake to check for doneness. If it comes out clear, the cake is completed.
Listed here are the very best pans to make use of (about 35 minutes bake time for every):
Listed here are the pans that gained’t work:
- There’s an excessive amount of batter for a 9-inch spherical cake pan.
- There’s not sufficient batter for a 9×13-inch pan or a Bundt pan.
Sure! I counsel making the batter twice. Don’t double it—make it twice after which mix the batters. This will likely be plenty of batter (about 6 cups or 1745g) and is the proper quantity for a 3-layer cake. Grease three 9-inch spherical cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Fill the cake pans midway (about 575g batter in every). Bake for 22–25 minutes. In the event you don’t need to make the batter twice, you may make it as soon as and bake it in three 6-inch spherical cake pans, to make a 3-layer 6-inch cake.
Sure! For about 14 cupcakes, fill liners midway and bake for 20-22 minutes. Or attempt my barely completely different recipe for gingerbread cupcakes.
Topping Gingerbread Cake
This gingerbread snack cake is completely incredible by itself—you don’t even want frosting! However if you wish to make it a little bit extra particular, add a slather of candy and tangy spiced cream cheese frosting. (Included within the recipe card under.) It’s like absolute heaven on this not-too-sweet cake.
You too can give it a easy dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a dollop of whipped cream, or attempt the lemon glaze I pair with these just-as-tasty gingerbread muffins.
I additionally like to garnish it with contemporary cranberries for colour. Sugared cranberries are particularly festive, and see my notes in that tutorial for sugared rosemary. Right here’s a slice from my 9-inch springform pan:
And right here’s the gingerbread cake baked in a 9-inch sq. pan with festive Christmas sprinkles. The little holly decorations are by the model Wilton, and I can’t appear to search out them on-line anymore. These Christmas bushes are related although!
In the event you love smaller-scale cake recipes, do this small chocolate cake or my straightforward 1-layer sprinkle cake.
Extra Gingerbread Recipes
Spiced Gingerbread Cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Prepare dinner Time: 35 minutes
Whole Time: 3 hours, 55 minutes (consists of cooling)
Yield: serves 8-10
Class: Cake
Methodology: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
That is my timeless traditional gingerbread. You’ll be able to get pleasure from it plain or with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or dollop of whipped cream. You too can prime it with spiced cream cheese frosting (recipe included under). You may make it as a single layer spherical or sq. cake, or attempt the layer cake variations detailed within the Notes.
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting (optionally available)
Directions
- Modify the oven rack to the decrease third place and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan, 9-inch sq. pan, or 11×7-inch rectangle pan. Put aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt collectively till mixed. Put aside.
- In a separate bowl or in a liquid measuring cup, whisk the molasses and scorching water collectively.
- In a big bowl utilizing a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on excessive pace till clean and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat on excessive pace for 1 minute till creamed collectively pretty nicely. Scrape down the perimeters and up the underside of the bowl with a silicone spatula as wanted. On medium-high pace, beat within the egg and vanilla till mixed. Scrape down the perimeters and up the underside of the bowl with a silicone spatula as wanted. With the mixer on low pace, add the dry substances in three additions alternating with the recent water/molasses, starting and ending with the dry substances, and mixing every addition simply till integrated. Keep away from overmixing. Batter is barely thick. A couple of small lumps are OK.
- Pour batter into ready pan. Bake for round 35 minutes, or till the cake is baked by way of. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clear with solely a pair moist (not moist) crumbs, it’s achieved.
- Permit cake to chill utterly within the pan set on a wire rack. The cake should be utterly cool earlier than frosting.
- Make the frosting: In a big bowl utilizing a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter collectively on medium-high pace till creamy and no lumps stay, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and pinches of spices. Beat on low pace for 20 seconds then improve to excessive pace till every little thing is totally mixed and the frosting is creamy. Style. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is just too candy. Unfold on prime of cake. Unfold across the sides when you’ve got additional frosting.
- Slice and serve.
- Cowl leftover cake tightly and retailer within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
Notes
- Make Forward & Freezing Directions: Put together cake by way of step 6. Wrap the baked and cooled cake tightly and hold at room temperature for 1 day or freeze as much as 3 months. Convey to room temperature (if frozen) then proceed with step 7. Frosting will also be made 1 day forward of time. Cowl tightly and refrigerate in a single day. Beat the frosting on medium pace for a couple of seconds so it’s creamy once more, if wanted. Frosted cake freezes nicely, as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge, then deliver to room temperature or serve chilly. See How one can Freeze Muffins.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): 9-inch Springform Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Offset Icing Spatula
- Completely different Dimension Pans: It doesn’t matter what measurement pan you utilize, bake the cake at 350°F (177°C). A 9-inch springform pan or 10-inch springform pan is greatest as a result of this gingerbread cake rises fairly excessive. 9-inch cake pans are too brief. You too can use a 9-inch sq. pan or 11×7-inch rectangle pan. For all of those pans, the bake time will likely be about 35 minutes. Insert a toothpick within the middle of the cake to check for doneness. If it comes out clear, the cake is completed. There’s not sufficient batter for a 9×13-inch cake pan or a bundt pan.
- Gingerbread Cupcakes: For about 14 cupcakes, fill liners midway and bake for 20-22 minutes. Or attempt my barely completely different recipe for gingerbread cupcakes.
- 9-Inch Layer Cake: You may make this as a 3-layer 9-inch cake. I counsel making the batter twice. Don’t double it—make it twice after which mix the batters; the batter is just too heavy to double abruptly. You’ll have about 6 cups or 1745g of batter. Grease three 9-inch spherical cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Fill the cake pans midway (about 575g batter in every). Bake the layers for 22–25 minutes. The perfect quantities/ratio of substances to make use of for the frosting can be the identical cream cheese frosting from this carrot cake recipe. Be happy to nonetheless add a pinch of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves to it.
- 6-inch Layer Cake: You may make the batter as written above and divide it between 3 6-inch spherical cake pans, to make a 3-layer 6-inch cake. The cream cheese frosting written above is sufficient for the 3-layer 6-inch cake.
- Tailored from Gingerbread Muffins.
Key phrases: gingerbread cake
