This deeply spiced and moist gingerbread cake is wonderful any time of day, whether served plain or dressed up with spiced cream cheese frosting and sugared cranberries. You can make it as a single layer cake, or try the 3 layer cake versions detailed in the Notes. No matter how you bake and serve it, this is a classic gingerbread recipe the whole family will love during the holiday season!
Reader MK commented: “Soooo delicious! My grandma used to make gingerbread every year and never used a written recipe. This is the closest thing I’ve tasted to it in years. ★★★★★”
Nothing tastes more like the holidays than the warm, cozy flavors of gingerbread. The smell of ginger, cloves, and molasses can instantly transport anyone’s mindset to December.
Every holiday season, I make my favorite gingerbread cookies, and gingerbread waffles are fast becoming a favorite winter weekend tradition in my house, too. But what about just, simply, gingerbread? A sweet, spiced stick-to-your-fork-moist cake that can do double-duty as Christmas morning breakfast and dessert… welcome to my quintessential gingerbread recipe!
While adding a layer of cream cheese frosting makes it a wonderful holiday dessert, this cake would be just as welcome as a special holiday breakfast, snack, or late-night last-minute gift-wrapping fuel.
Gingerbread has no time-of-day limitations. 😉
Why You Will Love This Gingerbread Snack Cake
- A 1-layer cake, perfect for when you aren’t feeding a big crowd
- You can even make it as an upside down pear gingerbread cake
- Warm, comforting holiday flavors of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves
- Moist cake crumb, not dry or dense at all
- Top with spiced cream cheese frosting, enjoy it plain, with whipped cream, or with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar
- Adaptable to other pan sizes—see below
- Quick and easy prep makes for a low-maintenance holiday dessert
Ingredients You Need:
- Flour: The base of the gingerbread cake recipe.
- Baking Soda: As you may have read in my baking powder vs. baking soda post, molasses and brown sugar are both acids. So we need baking soda to give the cake its lift!
- Spices: Ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt—the gingerbread mainstays.
- Molasses: In addition to the spices, molasses is the other signature flavor in most gingerbread recipes. I recommend using unsulphured or dark molasses, not blackstrap, which has a more intense flavor that’s a bit too much in baked goods. (I always use Grandma’s brand molasses.)
- Hot Water: As you’ll read about below, whisking the thick molasses with hot water before adding it to the batter makes everything come together easily. The water also adds supreme moisture to each and every bite.
- Butter: You just can’t beat the flavor of this baking staple!
- Brown Sugar: Sweetening with brown sugar provides extra moisture + molasses flavor.
- Egg: 1 egg serves to bind the ingredients together, and adds richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Because, you know, cake. 🙂
How to Mix Sticky Molasses Into Cake Batter
Whisk the molasses with hot water before adding it to the batter. Why? As you know, molasses is very thick. The thick goop, for lack of better words, doesn’t mix easily into cake batter. It’s fine for cookie doughs such as iced gingerbread oatmeal cookies and gingerbread cookie bars, but hot water helps loosen the viscous consistency of molasses, which helps incorporate it into a thinner cake batter.
The resulting cake is dense, yet soft. Buttery, perfectly spiced, and impeccably flavored.
The rest of the prep work is pretty simple, too. You’ll cream the butter and brown sugar together, so an electric mixer is undoubtedly helpful (you’ll need it if you make the frosting, too). As the recipe instructs below, add the dry ingredients and water/molasses mixture to the wet ingredients in separate additions.
The batter is a little thick, and some small lumps are OK:
Different Pan Size Options
This is a versatile gingerbread cake recipe. It can be made a multitude of ways: as a 1-layer round, square, or 11×7-inch rectangle cake; as a gingerbread loaf cake; or as a layer cake. I originally published this recipe in 2015, and when testing this recipe again this year, we tried all of these variations so we could tell you which pans do and don’t work. We went through a LOT of molasses, and had a LOT of cake to give away.
Here’s what we know: The recipe as written makes about 3 cups of batter, and weighs about 850–890g. A 9-inch springform pan is best because this gingerbread cake rises high. No matter what size pan you use, bake the cake at 350°F (177°C). Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
Here are the best pans to use (about 35 minutes bake time for each):
- 9-inch springform pan or 10-inch springform pan
- 9-inch square baking pan
- 11×7-inch rectangle pan
Here are the pans that won’t work:
- There is too much batter for a 9-inch round cake pan.
- There is not enough batter for a 9×13-inch pan or a Bundt pan.
Yes! I suggest making the batter twice, and reducing the molasses (see Note below). This will be a lot of batter (about 6 cups or 1745g) and is the perfect amount for a 3-layer cake. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Fill the cake pans halfway (about 575g batter in each). Bake for 22–25 minutes. If you don’t want to make the batter twice, you can make it once and bake it in three 6-inch round cake pans, to make a 3-layer 6-inch cake.
Yes! For about 14 cupcakes, fill liners halfway and bake for 20-22 minutes. Or try my slightly different recipe for gingerbread cupcakes.
Topping Gingerbread Cake
This gingerbread snack cake is absolutely fantastic on its own—you don’t even need frosting! But if you want to make it a little more special, slather on some sweet and tangy spiced cream cheese frosting. (Included in the recipe card below.) It’s like absolute heaven on this not-too-sweet cake.
You can also give it a simple dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a dollop of whipped cream, or try the lemon glaze I pair with these just-as-tasty gingerbread muffins.
Or keep it plain so you can warm your slice up and top it with vanilla ice cream. Maybe a little salted caramel sauce on top there, too? Why not!?
I also love to garnish it with cranberries for color. Sugared cranberries are especially festive, and see my notes in that tutorial for sugared rosemary. Here’s a slice from my 9-inch springform pan:
Here’s the layered cake, detailed in the recipe Notes below:
And here’s the gingerbread cake baked in a 9-inch square pan with festive Christmas sprinkles. The little holly decorations are by the brand Wilton, and I can’t seem to find them online anymore. These Christmas trees are similar, though!
If you love smaller-scale cake recipes like this, try this small chocolate cake or my easy 1-layer sprinkle cake.
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 Waffles
Spiced Gingerbread Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 55 minutes (includes cooling)
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my timeless classic gingerbread. You can enjoy it plain or with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or dollop of whipped cream. You can also top it with spiced cream cheese frosting (recipe included below). You can make it as a single layer round or square cake, or try the layer cake versions detailed in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (180ml or 225g) unsulphured or dark molasses (do not use blackstrap; I prefer Grandma’s brand)
- 3/4 cup (180ml) hot water (about 100°F (38°C))
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- small pinch each of ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves
- optional: sprinkles and/or sugared cranberries for garnish
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan, 9-inch square pan, or 11×7-inch rectangle pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl or in a liquid measuring cup, whisk the molasses and hot water together.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat on high speed for 1 minute until creamed together fairly well. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. On medium-high speed, beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the hot water/molasses, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Avoid over-mixing. Give it a whisk by hand at the end to make sure there are no large lumps (a few small lumps are OK). Batter is slightly thick.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for around 35 minutes, or until the cake is baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean with only a couple moist (not wet) crumbs, it’s done.
- Allow cake to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. The cake must be completely cool before frosting.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until creamy and no lumps remain, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and pinches of spices. (Note that the video does not include the spices in the frosting, but the pictures do!) Beat on low speed for 20 seconds, then increase to high speed until everything is completely combined and the frosting is creamy. Taste. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. Spread on top of cake. Spread around the sides if you have extra frosting.
- Slice and serve.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare cake through step 6. Wrap the baked and cooled cake tightly and keep at room temperature for 1 day or freeze up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature (if frozen) then continue with step 7. Frosting can also be made 1 day ahead of time. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again, if needed. Frosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or serve cold. See How to Freeze Cakes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Springform Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Offset Icing Spatula
- Different Size Pans: No matter what size pan you use, bake the cake at 350°F (177°C). A 9-inch springform pan or 10-inch springform pan is best because this gingerbread cake rises pretty high. 9-inch cake pans are too short. You can also use a 9-inch square pan or 11×7-inch rectangle pan. For all of these pans, the bake time will be about 35 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. There is not enough batter for a 9×13-inch cake pan or a Bundt pan.
- Gingerbread Cupcakes: For about 14 cupcakes, fill liners halfway and bake for 20–22 minutes. Or try my slightly different recipe for gingerbread cupcakes.
- 9-Inch Layer Cake: You can make this as a 3-layer 9-inch cake. I suggest making the batter twice, and reducing the molasses to 1/2 cup (150g) in each (for 1 cup (300g) total in the layer cake). You do not have to reduce the water. Don’t double this recipe—make it twice and then combine the batters; the batter is too heavy to double all at once. You will have about 6 cups or 1745g of batter. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Fill the cake pans halfway (about 575g batter in each). Bake the layers for 22–25 minutes. The best amounts/ratio of ingredients to use for the frosting would be the same cream cheese frosting from this carrot cake recipe. Feel free to still add a pinch of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves to it if desired.
- 6-inch Layer Cake: You can make the batter as written above and divide it between 3 6-inch round cake pans, to make a 3-layer 6-inch cake. The cream cheese frosting written above is enough for the 3-layer 6-inch cake.
- Adapted from Gingerbread Muffins.
Can I add chopped walnuts to the batter?
Hi Azza, Yes that should be fine. Enjoy!
This cake has a beautiful flavor and I love the texture. I had a few fails but was able to salvage it somewhat. The cake looked perfect when I first pulled it out…but started to sink in the middle as it cooled, even though my toothpick came out clean after 35 min. I checked with a knife and it was indeed raw in the middle. I put it back in the oven on the cake/bread setting at 350 (after it had mostly cooled, no less!) for another 20 and tested again and the center had firmed up. The outside was a little cracked but better than eating raw batter. I did sub fresh ginger juice for ginger powder. That extra 1.5 tbsp must have made the cake too wet to cook in the time frame? Also some, maybe a tbsp, of the dry mixture fell out as I was mixing, so that certainly didn’t help. Lol. The smooth top had broken from all my transferring back and forth from pan to cooling rack, but all in all, it isnt anything cream cheese frosting can’t fix! I’ll definitely try this one again. Hopefully with less errors!
I followed the instructions to the letter but the cake was extremely dry, even though I baked it for slightly less time than the instructions. The flavor was wonderful, though, so do you have any suggestions for making it less dry?
Molasses, unsulphured or otherwise, are not available where I live. What’s the closest substitute you’d suggest?
Hi Premila, unfortunately, there’s no equal substitute that will give the cake the signature gingerbread taste. Are you able to order some online? Hope you can find some soon!
I would rate this recipe a 5 star because it is wonderful! However, every time I have tried baking it in a springform pan as directed …it leaks through! I even bought a brand new very well made one and tested it again…same thing…batter is just too thin for a pan like this in my opinion. Anyway, it comes out beautifully in a greased and lined 9” regular round cake pan
This cake turned out amazing! I only had blackstrap molasses, which resulted in a very powerful molasses flavor. It wasn’t bad, but next time I might try 1/2 cup blackstrap & 1/4 cup honey to allow the other spices to shine a bit more. I also added 1 oz fresh ginger to this recipe and it turned out great! FYI I made this recipe in a 9-inch round cake pan because it is all I had and it was fine! It didn’t even come to the top of the pan. Same bake time.
I made this and cut the sugar in half as well as doubled the spice (we like bold flavor). The batter was as thick as….molasses. So I had to add more hot water to get it to pour. I’m at high altitude, which could be why it was a very thick batter.. I enjoyed it. Thanks Sally!
hi Sally
Happy holidays to you and your family. Question, I only have an 8″ springform pan, would it be ok? Or too much batter?
thanks in advance!
Hi Sandy, You can use your 8 inch pan. Your cake will be thicker so it may take a few minutes longer to bake, just keep an eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness,
Hey Sally! I love your recipes! Can I use fresh ginger anywhere in this recipe?
Hi Paula, thank you so much. You can definitely use fresh ginger here. Feel free to skip the ground ginger and replace with 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger.
Hi Sally, can i use treacle instead of molasses ?
Thank you in advance…Jodie
Hi Jodie! Black treacle has a generally slightly burnt, more bitter flavor than molasses. You can use it, but the final taste of the cake will be a bit different.
This was really an amazing cake. I baked 3 of them to make a gingerbread themed layer cake that turned out amazing! My girlfriends grandson said he lived it so much that he wants this cake fir his birthday in September. I frosted with your cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Huge hit!
We tried your gingerbread muffins and they were GREAT! So great that my son asked for a gingerbread CAKE for his birthday next week, and thankfully, you have a recipe for that, too! I love and trust your recipes.
I’m going to make 2 9-inch cakes for his birthday. I notice you recommend making the batter twice and combining them, rather than doubling the recipe. Why is that? (Pretend I’m lazy.)
Hi Erin! Doubling cake, quick bread, muffin, or cupcake recipes risks over or under-mixing since you’re working with a higher volume of batter. For absolute best results, I always recommend making the batter twice.
Made this and it was perfect. I substituted hot coffee for hot water for an extra flavor kick.
Would you double the batter for a standard sizes Bundt pan?
Hi Sara, I haven’t tested this recipe in a Bundt pan but I do have this Chocolate Gingerbread Bundt that you might like!
This was so delicious! I wanted spicy and this cake delivered. It’s also the perfect size. I liked the fact that it wasn’t overloaded with sugar. I found a brown sugar glaze for the icing, and it was terrific. Thank you for a great recipe.
I baked this last year in a 9” springform pan and everyone loved it. This year, I need to bake this two ways: one for a small Thanksgiving want to make a 6” layer cake, and another for a crowd (I bake a cake for a local senior center’s monthly birthday celebrations. Any suggestions on how much to adjust the basic recipe? I’d be glad to make two of your loaf recipes for the second cake, but still want a layer cake (I have 3 6×2”pans and 3 8×3” pans—I can level the top of a cake, but haven’t felt brave enough to tort a cake.)
Hi Laurie! Without testing anything, the best I can say is to make my gingerbread cupcakes. That batter is exactly how much you’ll need for a 3 layer 6 inch cake. (See my 6 inch cakes post for baking instructions.) You could, of course, use this gingerbread snack cake batter, but I’m unsure exactly how much you’ll need. A *little* less than the full recipe for sure.
I made this recipe last night after work as dessert. There is none left. It is a delicious cake and easy to make. I kept the spices exactly as you have in the recipe and we thought the taste was perfect. I did change the icing. I used your brown sugar glaze instead of cream cheese icing. It was wonderful !!
Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Hi, Can you bake this in loaf pans like banana bread?
Yes, or see my updated gingerbread loaf recipe: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/spiced-gingerbread-loaf/
Whenever I make gingerbread I find I crave the taste of orange. Can I incorporate some orange juice and maybe peel? What about subbing orange extract? I’d like to make it tonight but I also want to wait for your answer.
I would try adding some orange zest to the batter! Let me know how it turns out!
Thank you for the great recipe. I was looking for a moist Gingerbread something to make mini-cupcakes for a Christmas Tea Party. This recipe foots the bill.
This is a fabulous, easy, and stable cake. I first made it last week, and we ate it warm with my husband’s unsweetened cinnamon applesauce. Today it’s in the oven again; this time in a tin that makes six large cupcakes. Tomorrow we’ll serve it to our son and his wife, with applesauce of course, and whipped cream. Even a novice baker could produce this cake with pride. I’d give this recipe five stars!
OMG.. this cake is delicious. My family and I loved the texture and taste. 😀 Thank you and happy holidays!
This looks amazing!! Would it be sturdy enough for a two layer cake?
Hey Annie! Yes, absolutely. I suggest making the batter twice. (Don’t double it– make it twice and combine the batters.) This will be a lot of batter and should be the perfect amount for a 3 layer cake. Fill the 9-inch cake pans halfway. Use any leftover batter for cupcakes. OR you can make the cake as is and slice in half to turn into a thinner layer cake. That might be easier!
Hi Sally!
I love all of your recipes that I have tried. In fact your blog is my first stop when looking for a new recipe. I made your chocolate chip pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake and the pumpkin pie all within the last month. I took the bread and cake to work and everyone was raving about it and some even asked for the recipe! I make a cake for my neighbor’s holiday open house every year and in the years past I have done a chocolate cake with a peppermint crunch buttercream but last year I changed things up and did a gingerbread cake with a brown sugar bourbon buttercream and it was a hit. However, I didn’t love the cake, I liked it but didn’t love it, so I think I will give this a try for this year! I saw in the comment above that this could be turned into a layer cake. Can I make it a thick layer cake? I have the deeper Wilton performance round pan, I think it’s the 6″x 3″ round . Would this recipe work for that, if I made separate batches of the batter and then combined them in the pan? Regardless, I can’t wait to try.
Hi Meredith! I’m so glad you tried so many of my pumpkin recipes this Fall. The pumpkin bread is, without a doubt, my favorite.
Regarding this gingerbread cake– are you looking to make the cake in that 6×3 round pan twice? Or slice 1 of those cakes into layers? I was confused by your question, sorry! Regardless, this recipe should work for that, though I would only fill the pan half full. So you’ll definitely have a lot of extra batter.
Thanks for the reply!! I was just going to bake it once since it is the deeper pan and then I would slice it into two layers. It sounds like this would be fine, Ive used cough cough, boxed mix cake, cough cough in the pan before and it’s been fine. I was just thrown off by the name since it’s called a snack cake.
Hi Sally! I’m thinking of baking this for my daughter’s 1st birthday, which is Christmas Eve 🙂 Do you think I could double the recipe and do it as a layer cake, or would it be too fragile? (Sometimes gingerbread is so crumbly!) Thanks so much and congrats on your beautiful little girl!
Thank you so much for the congrats, Lucy! I appreciate it so much. This cake can be made into a layer cake for sure. I suggest making the batter twice. (Don’t double it– make it twice and combine them.) This will be a lot of batter and should be the perfect amount for a 3 layer cake. Fill the 9-inch cake pans halfway. Use any leftover batter for cupcakes. 🙂 See recipe note for those. OR you can make the cake as is and slice in half to turn into a thinner layer cake. That might be easier!
A very happy birthday to your little girl!
Best gingerbread I’ve ever made. Moist!
Made this cake for post-Christmas Eve dinner and everyone enjoyed it!
Instead of using molasses, I substituted 1/2+ cup honey and about 1/4 cup maple syrup, warmed slightly, as my honey was crystallized anyway. Following the last addition of this mix, but before the final dry addition, I added 3/4 cup milk, slightly warmed. Batter tasted of honey but the final cake did not. Made the cake the day before then made the frosting and decorated day-of. The leftovers were fabulous for breakfast on Christmas morning 🙂
I had a great gingerbread recipe…where did it go? Who knows! I started searching online and trying out recipes. Thankfully, not too far into my endeavor, I discovered your recipe! This gingerbread is moist and has a great texture, not too heavy/dense. I made it exactly as written – absolutely no problems. It has a wonderful gingerbread flavor. My sons and husband love it. I make it and within a short period of time – it’s completely gone. Sure fire way to know that a recipe is a keeper at my house! 🙂
Yes, definitely! I’m unsure of the bake time.
That’s so odd! And frustrating. I wonder if it was over-baked? OR even under-baked and extra fragile? Are you confident it was fully cooled?