The Best Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe! This spiced ginger cake is light and fluffy - the perfect holiday treats! Delicious & quick to make!
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This gingerbread cake is the ultimate holiday dessert. It's moist, fluffy and packed with the perfect balance of sweetness and warm spices.
This gingerbread recipe is the perfect simple Christmas dessert when you want something festive but don't want any more cookies!
It's delicious on it's own with powdered sugar, or with a dollop of whipped cream or cream cheese frosting!
Of course, I always end up making Christmas Cookies too, such as Snowball Cookies, Haystacks, Gingersnap Cookies, and No Bake Oatmeal Cookies. It wouldn’t be the holidays without them.
why we love Gingerbread Cake
- Delicious: This gingerbread cake is sweet, spicy, and delicious!
- Easy to make: This cake is very simple to bake. It's made in a square pan and doesn't need any fancy decorations or frosting!
- A different holiday dessert: Typically the holidays are cookies cookie and more cookies, this gingerbread cake is the ultimate Christmas-time comfort dessert.
What is gingerbread cake made of?
To make gingerbread cake you'll need:
- unsalted butter
- white sugar
- Molasses
- egg
- whole milk
- ground cinnamon, ground ginger and allspice
- salt
- all purpose flour
- baking soda
- powdered sugar (optional for the topping)
How to Make Ginger Bread Cake
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
- Add the molasses, egg, and milk to the butter mixture.
- Add the spices and salt.
- Gradually fold in the baking soda and flour.
- Pour into the prepared pan and spread the batter evenly.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool. Remove from the pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar, frosting, or whipped cream if desired. Serve and enjoy!
How long will ginger cake keep?
Storing: You can store gingerbread cake for up to a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Storing in the refrigerator may dry out your cake over time but it's the best way to keep it from going bad.
Freezing: Freezing gingerbread cake is perfect if you'd like to prepare this cake ahead of time. Allow the cake to cool completely before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-safe container. Freeze it for up to 3 months.
Frosting Options for Spiced Ginger Cake
Because of the richness of this cake, and all of the warm flavors we've added, frosting is completely optional. I've given it a light dusting of powdered sugar to add a hint of additional sweetness.
Some other options for Spiced Ginger Cake frosting are:
- Homemade Buttercream Frosting
- Top it with Homemade Apple Pie Filling
- Whip up a cream cheese frosting or a Homemade Whipped Cream
There isn't a wrong answer, and all of these options will taste wonderful!
What is the difference between gingerbread and ginger cake?
Many people will associate "Gingerbread" with those cute little gingerbread man cookies, or gingerbread houses. Which can oftentimes be a crunchy cookie.
Gingerbread cake is not a cookie, it's a soft, moist cake that should be eaten with a fork.
However, some people use gingerbread recipe, or gingerbread cake interchangeably.
Substitutions for this Ginger Cake Recipe:
Unsalted Butter: Butter is essential to this recipe. We haven't tried it with dairy free butter but it might work! You can use salted or unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, cut the added salt in half.
Sugar: We don't recommend substituting white sugar unless you have to. Dark brown sugar and brown sugar are different
Molasses: We don't recommend substituting the molasses, helps to add color, flavor, and texture. Blackstrap molasses is NOT the same as regular molasses and is very bitter! Do not substitute with blackstrap molasses!
Eggs: We don't recommend substituting eggs, but you can read this article on Egg Substitutions for Baking if you need to substitute. Try it at your own risk!
Whole Milk: You can substitute milk with half and half, low fat milk or non dairy milk.
Ground Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, and Allspice: We don't recommend substituting these traditional gingerbread spices, you can, however, use a pre-made or homemade gingerbread spice mix in place of these.
Salt: Helps to add and balance flavors, we don't recommend substituting.
All-Purpose Flour: We don't recommend substituting the flour, but you can check out this article on Cake Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour or Substitutions for All-Purpose Flour
Baking Soda: Baking soda is essential for this recipe. Do not substitute with baking powder.
Powdered Sugar (Optional): For a simple but sweet cake topping you can use powdered sugar, or you can substitute this for any frosting option you love.
How to Serve Gingerbread Recipe
This cake is delicious plain or sprinkled with a little bit of powdered sugar.
It's also delicious with cream cheese frosting, or a dollop of fresh whipped cream on top!
Ginger Cake Recipe Tips And Variations
- Try Fruit: Top with candied ginger and sugared cranberries for a festive look!
- Make it into cupcakes - If preferred, you can always go the cupcake route with this cake. Place liners in a muffin pan and fill them ¾ of the way full. Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Make designs on the cake - A fun way to present the cake is to make designs on it out of powdered sugar. Place a cookie cutter over a spot on the cake and then sprinkle with the powdered sugar.
Gingerbread Cake Recipe FAQ
The warm spices of cinnamon, ginger, and allspice combined with the richness of molasses create that gingerbread flavor we all know. A melt-in-your-mouth rich and soft cake will pair wonderfully with an equally rich french vanilla ice cream.
Using a 9-inch pan, whether round or square, will work best with this recipe. No additional changes would need to be bake to cook time or temperature. No access to a 9-inch pan? You can easily fill a 12-count cupcake pan with this recipe.
More Cake Recipes You’re Sure To Love:
- Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Cinnamon Roll Cake
- Raspberry Pound Cake
- Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe
- Lemon Raspberry Bundt Cake
Ginger Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter room temp
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- powdered sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
- Add the molasses, egg and milk to the butter mixture. Mix well.
- Add the spices and salt. Mix again.
- Gradually fold in the baking soda and flour. Mix until combined.
- Pour into the prepared pan and spread the batter evenly.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar, frosting, or whipped cream if desired. Serve and enjoy!
lynn sagnip
the photo looks like there is an egg added but none are listed. my family will love this but i would like to be sure the recipe is correct. thanks so much
lifebeginswithdessert
oh my goodness! yes, there is definitely an egg! sorry I have updated it now, great catch, thanks!