Make your holidays extra festive with this easy gingerbread cake recipe! There are loads of warming flavours like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and rich molasses. The whole gingerbread cake is topped with a simple icing sugar glaze and plenty of fun sprinkles!
Now that my American friends have had their Thanksgiving and we are on the last week of November, bring on all the holiday inspired goodies, like this gingerbread cake recipe!
I can’t tell you how excited I am to be sharing this one! I want to thank my fam jam, though, because over the past few weeks they’ve enjoyed their fair share of this cake while I was recipe testing.
Cake for you and you and you! Cake for everyone!
Ha! The things we do, am I right?
All the testing was worth it, though, because this gingerbread cake is really good. As my sister-in-law said, it has all the warming flavours of the holidays, but it’s totally suitable for year-round eating. I wonder, is she trying to tell me something, LOL.
This gingerbread is not too sweet and literally takes minutes to whip up. It’s made with some simple ingredients that you probably have on hand. The hardest part? Waiting for it to bake and cool.
If you’re a fan of gingerbread, you may enjoy this homemade gingerbread coffee creamer!
How To Make Gingerbread Cake
Full details are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
- In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
- Place butter, cream cheese and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a bowl with a hand mixer).
- Blend until smooth, combined and fluffy.
- Add molasses and vanilla extract and blend.
- Next, add eggs (one at a time), blending in.
- Mix in reserved dry ingredients.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake.
- In a bowl or large measuring cup, mix the ingredients together for the icing sugar glaze.
- Pour the icing sugar glazed over the cooled gingerbread cake and add some festive sprinkles.
Icing Sugar Glaze for Cake
For this gingerbread cake recipe, I kept the icing simple.
The cake itself is, like I said, not overly sweet so this icing sugar glaze adds some sweetness and a pretty factor (along with those sprinkles, of course).
The glaze is literally two ingredients. I used icing sugar and orange juice. While recipe testing I tried with various quantities of icing sugar:
- ½ cup of icing sugar (just enough to drizzle some lines of icing sugar along the top of the cake)
- 1 cup of icing sugar (enough to drizzle over top but not quite enough for my liking)
- 1.5 cups (what I was happy with)
Tip: To make this easy icing sugar glaze, start with 1.5 cups of icing sugar and add 2 tablespoons of orange juice. Stir, stir, stir.
Slowly add additional orange juice, if needed (1 teaspoon at a time), to get your desired consistency. I used 2 tablespoons, plus 2 teaspoons.
A little bit of juice goes a long way and you don’t want the glaze too thin. It should be thick, almost thick like honey.
Tips for Making This Recipe
- Make sure your butter and cream cheese are softened before making this cake. The ingredients blend better and you get the most oomph out of them. To quickly soften both butter and cream cheese, cut into squares and place on a plate for 10 to 15 minutes or until softened.
- When measuring the molasses, grease a measuring cup with baking spray before pouring in the molasses. It helps it to come out more easily.
- Once the batter is poured into the greased pan, tap it down on a hard surface a bunch of times to remove any excess air bubbles before baking.
- Ensure that the gingerbread cake is fully cooled before icing. Otherwise, the icing sugar glaze will just melt (or soak) right into the cake and it won’t “pop.”
- I mixed the icing sugar glaze in a measuring cup (to make things easier). Just pour and let the icing sugar glaze flow naturally over the cake.
- As soon as the icing sugar glaze is over the cake, decorate with sprinkles. Because this is a holiday cake, sprinkles are definitely recommended.
More Easy Holiday Baking Recipes
- Baked Eggnog Donuts With Eggnog Icing Sugar Glaze
- Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Fruit Cake Bread Pudding
If you want to be extra indulgent, serve a big hunk of this gingerbread cake with some vanilla ice-cream and an eggnog latte. So good!
If you make this homemade gingerbread cake recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake
- Baking spray, or butter (to grease pan)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into a measuring cup and leveled off with a butter knife
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 (8-ounce) package light cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup fancy molasses
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- Festive sprinkles, garnish to taste (optional)
Icing Sugar Glaze
- 1.5 cup icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons orange juice, less if you want thicker consistency or more if you want a thinner consistency
Instructions
Gingerbread Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Generously spray a 10-inch fluted cake pan with baking spray and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a bowl with a hand mixer), blend (on medium-high speed) cream cheese, butter and sugar until combined, smooth and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes (stop as necessary to scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula).
- Add molasses and vanilla extract and blend for another 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed and add eggs, one at a time, blending about 15 to 30 seconds with each egg addition.
- Add reserved flour mixture and blend until just combined
- Pour or scoop batter into the prepared pan (batter will be thick). Tap the pan down on a hard surface a few times to settle the batter and remove any air bubbles. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer or cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.Note: Because pans and ovens can vary, check on at the 40-minute mark).
- Once done, allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes. Then carefully remove the cake from the pan onto a cooling rack, allowing it to cool completely before icing.
Icing Sugar Glaze
- Add icing sugar to a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of orange juice and whisk. A teaspoon at a time, add more juice and whisk until smooth and creamy. Drizzle over cooled gingerbread cake. Note: If you want the glaze thicker, add a little more icing sugar. Conversely, if you want a thinner glaze, add more juice (a little goes a long way).
Glaze the Gingerbread Cake
- Drizzle the icing sugar glaze over the cooled gingerbread cake, then add sprinkles (if desired). You can wait a few minutes for the icing to set or slice right away. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cooling time may vary. To speed up cooling time, place the cake in the fridge for a little while.
- When measuring the molasses, grease a measuring cup with baking spray before pouring in the molasses. It helps it to come out more easily.
- Ensure that the gingerbread cake is fully cooled before icing. Otherwise, the icing sugar glaze will just melt (or soak) right into the cake and it won’t “pop.”
- I mixed the icing sugar glaze in a measuring cup (to make things easier). Just pour and let the icing sugar glaze flow naturally over the cake.
- As soon as the icing sugar glaze is over the cake, decorate with sprinkles.
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
© Girl Heart Food Inc. Photographs and content are copyright protected.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Asmahan
Can I replace the cream cheese with yogurt ?
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Hi Asmahan! Thanks for stopping by! I haven’t tried this particular cake with yogurt so can’t say for sure if it will work, but it may! To replace some of the fat that would be in cream cheese, I’d opt for a regular yogurt (even a thick Greek yogurt) over, say, a lighter version 🙂
Matt - Total Feasts
Gingerbread has got to be my all-time favourite dessert! Delicious!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Same here! Thanks Matt 🙂
Tracy
What could you use instead of orange juice?
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Hi Tracy 🙂 You could use milk or even water instead of orange juice, if you like.
Anne|Craving Something Healthy
Pinned this and I can’t wait to try it for the holidays! Is icing sugar the same as powdered or confectioners sugar?
Girl Heart Food
Thank you Anne 🙂 Yes, it is! Hope you love this one!
Vanessa | Zest & Simmer
What a heavenly cake, lovely gingerbread for this holiday season! It looks pretty too the way you’ve decorated it!
Girl Heart Food
Thank you so much, Vanessa 🙂
Miriam
Love the thought of this cake baking in the oven – the kitchen must smell heavenly with all those beautiful warming flavours. Slightly obsessed with eggnog so I have to check out your eggnog latte recipe as well. What a great combination that would be!
Girl Heart Food
Totally!! The eggnog latte is from a friend of mine. It definitely would be a lovely combo 🙂 Thanks Miriam!
Denise from Urbnspice
As soon as I saw cream cheese together with the butter in your Gingerbread Cake ingredients, I knew that this cake would be a winner, Dawn. I am excited to make it over the holidays, but I agree with your sister-in-law. Make it all year around! Thanks so much for testing until perfect for our benefit. 🙂
Girl Heart Food
Thank you Denise!!! It’s a favourite for sure 🙂 Hope you love it as much as we do.
Colleen
Gingerbread cake is a holiday tradition in our family. I have never made it with cream cheese, though, and it sounds amazing! Pinning to try. Thanks for sharing, Dawn!
Girl Heart Food
The cream cheese really adds a richness to the cake. Hope you love it, Colleen! Thanks so much 🙂