Gingerbread Cake

Gingerbread Cake tastes just like your favorite holiday gingerbread cookies, in an easy-to-make cake form! With or without a layer of rich cream cheese frosting, this light and tender cake will be loved by everyone this year.

Warm and inviting, gingerbread is a must-have flavor for winter holidays. This light and tender gingerbread cake is perfectly sweetened and has the best blend of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and molasses.

This ginger cake takes just like your favorite Christmas gingerbread cookies but in cake form!

If you love gingerbread, be sure to try my gingerbread granola recipe too. You can enjoy all of this goodness for breakfast, any time of the year!

Why You’ll Love This Gingerbread Cake Recipe

1. 9×13-inch cake – If you don’t have the time or interest in making fancy layer cakes, then this cake and all of my other easy 9×13-inch cake recipes are for you! Simply bake the cake, and leave it right in the pan for frosting and serving.
2. Easier than Cookies – This gingerbread cake has all of the flavors you’d expect to find in gingerbread cookies but in a simple cake! The process for baking this recipe is much simpler and will take less time, and your kitchen will smell just as good.
3. Delicious Cream Cheese Frosting – This cake is completely amazing served plain with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top, but for a really decadent dessert, make my easy cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Add sprinkles to make it extra festive too!

Ingredients In Gingerbread Cake

Here’s what you need to make this holiday ginger cake recipe:

Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

• Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt: These ingredients are found in most cake recipes, and make up the bulk of the dry ingredients.
• Spices: Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg give the cake exactly the right gingerbread flavor.
• Unsulphured Molasses: Be sure not to buy “robust” or “blackstrap” molasses, as they will be too strong and overpowering for this recipe. You’ll also need some hot water to thin out the molasses for the cake batter.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter that you’ve softened at room temperature.
• Granulated Sugar: This cake isn’t overly sweet, but the amount of sugar in the recipe is perfect.
• Eggs: Let your eggs sit out at room temperature before mixing the cake batter. This helps the ingredients to incorporate better.
• Vanilla Extract: A key ingredient in most baked goods. I always use pure vanilla extract.
• Cream Cheese Frosting: If you’d like to frost your ginger cake, you’ll need cream cheese, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and confectioners sugar.

How To Make Gingerbread Cake

Before you get started, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, and grease a 9×13-inch pan with baking spray.

1. Combine Dry Ingredients: Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt in a bowl, and set the mixture aside.
2. Combine Wet Ingredients: In a bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter for about 1 minute, or until it’s smooth. Then add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat again for another minute scraping down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add Molasses: In a small bowl, combine the molasses with hot water. Add the dry ingredients and the molasses mixture to the bowl with the butter mixture, and mix at a low speed, just until combined.

1. Bake: Pour the gingerbread cake batter into the prepared pan, and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
2. Frost the Cake (optional): To make cream cheese frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter until well blended. Then mix in powdered sugar a bit at a time. Finish by mixing in vanilla extract and cinnamon. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting over the cooled cake, and decorate with sprinkles if you like.

Recipe Tips

• Use the right type of molasses. I like Grandma’s Original molasses in this recipe. I once accidentally made a cake using blackstrap molasses and it turned out very bitter and strong. Look for light or regular molasses for baking this cake.
• Instead of frosting, top the cooled cake with a generous sprinkle of powdered sugar, or serve slices of ginger cake with homemade Vanilla Sauce instead.
• Let it cool. Frosting on a warm cake is a recipe for a melty disaster! Be sure that your cake has had enough time to cool down completely before adding any sort of toppings.
• Make extra frosting. The recipe here makes just enough frosting to cover a 9×13-inch cake, but you can also make a full batch of cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and save the rest of it to use on cupcakes, carrot cake, or pumpkin cookies. Store the extra frosting in an airtight container for up to 3 months!
• Make it fun. Christmas Sprinkles add a festive, yet sophisticated touch

Storing Tips

Without frosting, this gingerbread cake will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days in an airtight container.

If you have frosted the cake, be sure to store it in the fridge instead.

What To Serve With Gingerbread Cake

If you’re making gingerbread cake, you’re probably in the Christmas season or planning for it, so be sure to check out all of my holiday recipes! You’ll find ideas for Christmas dinner, Christmas Cookies, and plenty of festive holiday appetizers and desserts.

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas Recipes:

For dinner, learn how to make the perfect Prime Rib roast, and serve it with creamy Asparagus Casserole and Mashed Potatoes.

Holiday parties require easy and delicious appetizers, and I love making Ham and Cheese Sliders and a Christmas Tree Cheese Ball to share. Set out a big bowl of Christmas Punch and everyone is sure to have a great time!

Ready to make cookies? You have to try my classic Snickerdoodles, and Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies this year.

Recipe FAQs

Gingerbread Cake is the perfect holiday dessert, but also delicious anytime you have a craving for a warm, comforting, and easy-to-bake cake! Save this recipe by Pinning it.