Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Julianne Bayer Dell | Beyond Frosting

This homemade Gingerbread Cake is topped with a cinnamon maple cream cheese frosting. You’ll love this recipe, it’s flavored with molasses, ginger, all spice, cloves and a touch of nutmeg. It’s the perfect holiday treat.

If you’re looking for an easy, holiday-themed cake to bring to a party or serve for dessert, look no further than this easy Gingerbread Cake.

This moist, tender cake is overflowing with flavor, using a combination of molasses, ginger, all spice, cloves and a touch of nutmeg. It’s so light and fluffy, I love it!

Gingerbread Cake Photo

Plus, it’s topped with the silkiest cream cheese frosting with hints of cinnamon and maple syrup. This cake will have your kitchen smelling just like Christmas morning.

Last year, I shared my Gingerbread Cupcake recipe, and I’ve gotten a few questions about making them as a cake instead of cupcakes. The recipe will work both ways!

Gingerbread Cake Picture

I love to bring cupcakes to a party because they’re easier to eat, but they also require a little bit more effort than a cake. It’s nice to be able to enjoy the same dessert but with a little less work.

The cake recipe is really easy to put together. There’s more brown sugar than white which enhances the molasses flavor but also makes for a very tender crumb.

Gingerbread Cake Image

This cake is made with oil instead of butter, so you don’t need to worry about creaming together and butter with sugar. It also calls for sour cream, which keeps it nice and moist. If you don’t want to use sour cream, you can substitute Greek yogurt.

The best way to top off this gingerbread cake is with a mouthwatering cream cheese frosting. If you don’t like cream cheese frosting (gasp-they do exist!), vanilla frosting would be a good alternative.

Gingerbread Cake Pic

I absolutely LOVE my cream cheese frosting. It uses equal parts butter and cream cheese, and it starts with cold ingredients, as it straight out of the fridge.

If you use room temperature ingredients, it tends to make the frosting a lot weaker or runnier- and then you need to overcompensate with powdered sugar, leaving you with a frosting that is entirely too sweet.

File 1 - Gingerbread Cake

First cut the butter into chunks so that it’s easier to work in the mixer. Beat the butter for several minutes until it’s fluffy and then add the cold cream cheese. Spend a couple minutes creaming the butter and cream cheese together.

As you start adding the powdered sugar, you can alternate adding the liquid ingredients: heavy cream, maple syrup and vanilla extract.

The frosting recipe calls for 3-4 cups of powdered sugar so that it will allow you to control the consistency and taste of your frosting. Since you’re spreading it over a cake, you don’t need to worry about it being as stiff as you’d might want if you were making cupcakes.

File 2 - Gingerbread Cake

Simply spread this cream cheese frosting over top of your cooled cake and garnish it with your favorite festive sprinkles. It may seem at first like you have a lot of frosting, but the cake itself is actually fairly thick, so you’ll want that nice thick layer of frosting on top.

Let this Gingerbread Cake be the star of your holiday party. No one has to know how easy it is to make this cake!

Planning a dinner party and need some inspiration?

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Gingerbread Cake Recipe

    15 Servings

Ingredients

For the Cake:
  • 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 4 large Eggs
  • 1/2 cup Molasses
  • 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 cup Light Sour Cream
  • 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cloves
  • 1 cup Milk
For the Frosting:
  • 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, cold
  • 8 ounces Cream Cheese, cold
  • 3-4 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup
  • 1 teaspoon Heavy Whipping Cream, or Milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Directions

For the Cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugars, vegetable oil, eggs, molasses and vanilla extract and sour cream. Beat on medium speed until the well combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine all remaining dry ingredients. Then, add half the dry ingredients to the batter followed half the milk and beat until it starts to combine.
  3. Finally add the remaining dry ingredients, mixing on low speed while pouring in the milk and beating until all of the ingredients are well combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
  4. Bake in a 9x13-inch pan at 350°F for 30-32 minutes. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are done. Cool Completely.

For the Frosting: 

  1. Cut the butter into 1-inch blocks. Beat the butter for 1-2 minutes until it is slightly softened.
  2. Then add the cream cheese and cream together for 2-3 minutes until they are fluffy and free of lumps, scape down the bowl occasionally.
  3. Slowly add 2 cups of confectionary sugar, followed by the heavy cream, maple syrup and vanilla extract and beat until desired consistency is reached.
  4. Add the remaining powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until desired consistency, at least 2 minutes.

 

Notes

  • The sour cream can be substituted with Greek Yogurt.

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Cooking Method:
Baking
Category:
Desserts
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Related Recipes:
Cake Recipes, Baking Recipes, Baked Recipes, Dessert Recipes, Christmas Recipes, Holiday Recipes, Party Food Recipes, Family Meals and Snack Recipes, Ginger Recipes
Recipe Yields:
1 cake
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Total Time:
Related Post:
Published:
Author: Julianne Bayer Dell
Recipe Yields: 1 cake
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 32 minutes
Total Time: 62 minutes

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 slice
Servings Per Recipe 15

Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 170
Calories 517

% Daily Value*
33%
Total Fat 21g
45%
  Saturated Fat 9g
4%
Sodium 88mg
25%
Total Carbohydrate 75g
1%
  Dietary Fiber 1g
  Sugars 52g
12%
Protein 6g

* Percent Daily Value are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrition Facts are estimated based on ingredients and data provided by Fat Secret. Please consult a doctor if you have special dietary needs.
Julianne Bayer Dell

About Julianne

Julianne loves all things dessert, and shows it on her blog, Beyond Frosting. She's sharing shortcuts to create decadent desserts using cake mix as our Cake Mix Fanatic!

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