Deep, dark chocolate gingerbread Bundt cake full of warming spices. This chocolate gingerbread Bundt cake with cream cheese frosting is a show stopper dessert around the holidays!
What may look like your run-of-the-mill chocolate Bundt cake, one bite of today’s cake will surely take you for a surprise. Deep in the chocolate crumbs you will taste a medley of warming winter spices, pungent and dark molasses, and a bold ginger taste ready to scare off your gingerbread cookie. And ordinary chocolate Bundt cake? Ha! This is none of the sort.
Originally intending to make a pumpkin chocolate Bundt cake of sorts last weekend, I found myself eager to try something a little new. While I love pumpkin dearly, I am beginning to embrace the flavors of the upcoming holidays. There are no flavors I associate more with holidays than gingerbread or molasses, so into my chocolate Bundt cake went… Christmas.
Into the cake batter goes cocoa powder, whole milk, molasses, eggs, and brown sugar. I used oil as my fat in the recipe because I’ve learned that oil produces a much softer, moist slice of cake as opposed to butter. While I love butter in my cookie recipes, when I’m not looking for an item to spread and to remain moist over time – I find oil does the trick. Especially a cake with so much flavor from the ginger, molasses, and spices – you will not miss the butter in this recipe at all. Box cake mixes (which have the texture I was looking for) are baked using oil, not butter.
For the festive spices—if you’re anything like me—you’re going to lend a heavy hand pouring your cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves into the mix. The two teaspoons of ginger are necessary (you’re making gingerbread after all). I typically get sprinkle happy when it comes to spices in my baked goods, but the spice amounts below were even spot-on to my taste tasters. Just the right amounts, they said.
Spice is always nice.
The cake is left ultra moist from the oil, molasses, and dark brown sugar. More often than not, I favor using dark brown sugar in my baked goods because it adds a larger scale of flavor depth.
1/2 cup of dark molasses gives the cake a huge flavor punch—a little bit of molasses can go a long way, but in a dense chocolate Bundt cake, a whopping 1/2 cup is not overpowering at all. Use unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand). I prefer dark molasses because it has a more robust flavor than light molasses (comparable to the taste difference between light brown sugar and dark brown sugar).
*Tip: Spraying your measuring cup with non-stick spray before measuring the molasses will save you a lot of sticky trouble!
The cake’s texture is soft, yet dense—exactly how you can imagine the taste of gingerbread and chocolate cake if the two combined forces. You’ve got your pungent, slightly spicy, and thick slice of gingerbread with a delicate and moist piece of chocolate cake all in one bite. The chocolate flavor comes through a bit more in this cake than it does in chocolate ginger cookies. Each crumb is ultra moist, chocolatey rich, and tender. Texture perfection, if you ask me. There are so many complex flavors happening in this cake that it is practically impossible to stop eating it. If you love the flavors together here, you’ll enjoy them in my chocolate gingerbread sandwich cookies, too!
The frosting was an afterthought and while this cake is simply glorious on its own, I felt a tangy and creamy layer overtop was the perfect addition. The cream cheese frosting is a Sally special… the perfect ratio of cream cheese to butter, confectioners’ sugar to vanilla, and a splash of milk to get things moving in the mixer. The white frosting is quite thick and smooths beautifully over the dark chocolate Bundt—I love the color contrast of the two!
I topped the the frosting with a light drizzle of chocolate sauce. From the spices in the batter, the frosting piled on top, to the chocolate drizzle—apparently “more is better” is my motto today. Gingerbread waffles are an amazing holiday breakfast, but THIS is how I like my holiday gingerbread dessert. 😉
More Gingerbread Recipes
- Gingerbread Muffins
- Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake
- Gingerbread Cookie Bars & Gingerbread Cookies
- Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
- Homemade Gingerbread House (with free template)
- Gingerbread Cake
Chocolate Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 10-12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Deep, dark chocolate gingerbread Bundt cake full of warming spices. This chocolate gingerbread Bundt cake with cream cheese frosting is a show stopper dessert around the holidays!
Ingredients
Chocolate Gingerbread Cake
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (120ml) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) water
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) whole milk
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 ounces (113g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2–3 cups (240-360g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2–4 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: chocolate sauce, for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Spray a 9-inch Bundt pan with nonstick spray. Dust with cocoa powder and tap out excess. Set aside.
- Make the cake: Over medium-low heat, melt together the oil, molasses, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan until all of the brown sugar has dissolved. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the eggs and milk into the molasses mixture after it has cooled (to avoid heating and scrambling the eggs). Set aside.
- Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg into a medium bowl. Gently fold the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until just combined. There will be lumps remaining. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes until cake is pulling away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
- As the cake cools, make the frosting: In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the confectioners sugar. Add the vanilla and the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until you’ve reached the desired thickness. Add a little more sugar or milk if necessary to achieve a spreadable frosting.
- Invert cake onto a cake stand or a large serving platter. Frost cake immediately before serving and drizzle with chocolate sauce (optional).
- Cake remains fresh for up to 4 days stored in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Bundt Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Fine Mesh Sieve | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Cake adapted from Martha Stewart.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This cake turned out phenomenal BUT I took the advice of another poster who reduced the molasses to 1/8th cup and replaced the remaining with maple syrup. with the cream cheese frosting and studded with raspberries, it was demolished!
I made mine in a 9 inch square pan. It’s not a whole lot of batter, so I thought it would come out too thin. It was fine though, and came out the perfect thickness for cutting in to 16 squares. For me, it took slightly less time, 25 minutes only, because of the thinness.
I was a see bit heavy handed when measuring the spices because I love the spices!
A delicious cake. I think it’s too moist to bake in a loaf pan but I may try an 8 inch square next time.
Great recipe! I made in a 10 cup Nordicware Christmas shaped bundt pan–the batter didn’t fill the entire design but that’s my fault. The cake had a great crumb and the ginger flavor was not overpowering. I dusted it with some powdered sugar to highlight the details of the bundt pan. Used Baker’s Joy and a pastry brush for the pan and popped the cake out after 10 minutes of cooling. The cake disappeared and got lots of compliments. Thanks Sally!
I actually meant to give the recipe 5 stars, not 2. Don’t know how that happened, but the cake is delicious!
Hi Sally, I made this cake in a 9 cup Bundt gingerbread house pan, and the battery filled the pan about 3/4 full. After baking, the cake didn’t rise enough to fill the pan completely, so I lost a lot of the pan’s design. What should I do differently next time?
Hi Lynda, this is a smaller Bundt Cake recipe. You can make more batter next time to fill your gingerbread house pan. What a great recipe to use for that pan!
I tried this recipe for Christmas and to be honest it’s the first I’ve tried off this site that I wasn’t in love with. The main taste is a whole lotta molasses- any hint of ginger or spices is completely lost. The cake is very moist and bake times are perfect. The frosting is heavenly and almost can cover the extreme molasses flavor but not quite. I would love to use the icing on a different gingerbread recipe in the future.
This recipe was so good I made it twice in one weekend, once as regular size cupcakes & once as mini cupcakes, which both worked out brilliantly. Everybody loved them! Several people asked for the recipe.
hi Sally, my cake turned out flat, it did not rise at all, do you know why that could be?
Hi Hanna, was your baking soda fresh? We find it starts to lose it’s potency around 3 months, even if the expiration date reads longer. Be sure not to over mix, too, as that can cause cakes to become dense and squat. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I made this with only 1/8 cup dark molasses and the rest maple syrup, baked it in a 9” round Pyrex pan for about 38 minutes, and it turned out perfectly! Paired with my homemade chocolate maple frosting it made a decadent winter birthday cake. Double the recipe for 2 9” rounds to make a layer cake.
LOVE this recipe! The texture of the cake is so perfect! Do you think you could omit the spices for a rich, chocolate cake taste? Or will the molasses make this still taste more like a gingerbread? Would maple syrup work in place of the molasses? I love the texture of this cake (even after being refrigerated) so much more than any other plain chocolate cakes!
Hi JL, we haven’t tested this recipe with maple syrup instead of molasses, but they’re pretty different in consistency. If you try it, maybe go half and half first. You could try omitting the spices, or reducing them, and in place of them adding a bit more cocoa powder and a teaspoon of espresso powder, like we use in many of our chocolate cakes. Or you may like this chocolate cream cheese Bundt cake instead!
I usually love all the recipes on this site, but this didn’t turn out well. It didn’t have a pleasing balance of flavors and the cake stuck to my greased, non-stick pan. sad. had to throw away. A first from this website. Maybe I did something wrong?
Hi, made this cake for my husbands birthday yesterday. Had friends around for afternoon tea to celebrate. Absolutely delicious this is my 3rd cake I’ve made in 3 days ,all from your site Sally!
The lot has been demolished by family and friends!, Faboulous. Mardie.
Haven’t tried this yet but it’s next on my list. Just wondering if I should go with dark cocoa powder instead of regular (if I can find it)? Dark seems to be the theme of this recipe!
Hi David, it’s important to use unsweetened natural cocoa powder here — many dark chocolate cocoa’s are dutch processed. If you’re interested, you can learn more about the difference between natural and dutch processed cocoas here. Hope you enjoy this cake!
I made this is a silicone Bundt pan (dark in colour), and it required an additional 22 minutes
I’ve made many things from your site and have recommended it to many friends, but this is the first recipe that I felt underwhelmed by. Luckily it’s not a particularly time consuming one- just got that urge to bake something on a random weeknight and happened to have purchased molasses recently on a whim.
Honestly, the texture was just fine, no sticking issues, etc. But man, it literally just tastes like molasses and the spices are totally lost. I mean can’t taste them even a little.
I triple checked that everything was correct in terms of amounts, never change a thing the first time I try a recipe, and even freshly ground my own cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, which I’ve used in other recipes recently with the flavors you’d expect of freshly ground spices. So I wonder if the molasses I bought is just a particularly strong one? Everyone else commenting seems to be enjoying their spice level…So bummed!
So it’s not a bad cake by any means, and my husband enjoyed his slice quite a bit just now, but I was really hoping for that hit of gingerbread and just didn’t get it. Just an unmet expectations thing. At least I used up most of the molasses!
On to the next recipe!
Hi Heather, Thank you for trying this recipe. What type of molasses did you use? You should definitely taste it but it shouldn’t be overwhelming. We prefer dark molasses over blackstrap molasses, which is very strong. Dark molasses is usually sold as unsulphered.
Hi Sally,
Can I use a loaf pan for this recipe?
Hi Elaine, you can, just divide the batter evenly among two loaf pans. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Enjoy!
Multiple people have told me this is the best cake they’ve ever had. “I’m floored” and “I can’t believe this is even human food” are two of my favorite responses. I’ve also made it in Nordic Bakeware’s stained glass bundt pan and preserved the pretty design by making a simple powdered sugar/water glaze instead of the thicker frosting and that went well!
Hi Sally,
Longtime reader (and baker) of your recipes, first-time poster. In the blog text, you mention using heavy cream instead of milk, but in the recipe, the milk alternative is buttermilk. That seems odd to me. Is one of them a goof? If we used buttermilk, that would make the batter more acidic, so we’d have to use more baking soda, right?
Hi Dayna– let me fix that. Heavy cream would be a fine substitute in the cake recipe itself but regular whole milk truly is best. Buttermilk isn’t ideal but it’s only 1/4 cup (60ml) and wouldn’t really require a change to the baking soda/leavening.
Hi Sally! Do you have any recommendations for turning this into a layer cake? I’m unsure whether it would be enough batter for a two or three layered 8 or 9 inch cake (or even 6 inch). Thank you in advance!
Hi Veronica, this recipe should work wonderfully as a layer cake. Our cake pan sizes and conversions guide will be helpful for determining the different sizes. Let us know how it goes!
What kind of chocolate sauce do you use? Do you just melt chocolate?
Fabulous!! Made this tonight for our family Christmas party. It was so delectably moist and chocolatey with a good amount of spice. I added chocolate chips to the batter not remembering that my batter was warm which resulted in even more chocolate decadence! I also topped with chocolate ganache instead of cream cheese which put it over the top! Thanks sally for a keeper!!
Can I substitute an extra half cup of flour and skip the cocoa? I really want to make just a classic gingerbread Bundt cake; I can’t find one on your website, Sally, and I don’t trust anybody else’s
Hi Beth! You can definitely try substituting the cocoa powder for an extra 1/2 cup of flour. Let me know how it turns out! The Bundt cake is on the smaller side.
This is one of my very favorite cakes I’ve made! It’s so moist and light for a Bundt, and the recipe worked perfectly when I halved it for my mini pan!
Can you freeze the cake without frosting?
Thanks!
Yep!
Sally, can I make this recipe in a regular 9×13 pan? Or do I absolutely need a bundt pan?
I’m sure you can, I just don’t know the bake time.
Will this turn out well if you use a 10-inch bundt pan? That’s all I have and I’d like to make this for an office holiday party this week.
I was thinking of making either a chocolate or gingerbread bundt cake before I saw this recipe, so this solves my dilemma by combining both chocolate and gingerbread together…so win, win!
A 10-inch pan works– bake time will be a little less because of a slightly larger pan.
Hi Sally. I’m excited to try this, but I too only have a 10in bundt pan. I’d like it to be a nice large cake (it’s for a party). Could I just make a batch and a half (1.5) of this recipe in the 10in bundt pan? Or would that mess something up? Would I need more baking soda since it will be thicker?
Hey Tiffany! The cake will still be quite large as is in the 10 inch pan, I promise. No changes necessary.
Made this yesterday for a dinner party and it is fantastic! A keeper. It is all gone!
Can this be made into cupcakes ? 🙂
absolutely! i believe the bake time is around 18-20 minutes, give or take.
If you wanted to make these in mini Bundt cake pans, how long would you bake it for?
Just made this cake for Super Bowl Sunday. Wow! It was delicious! The spices and the chocolate flavors blended so well together. The icing/chocolate syrup were the perfect toppings and complemented the cake itself very well. A very moist cake too! Thanks, Sally!