Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake Recipe
This old-fashioned gingerbread recipe makes the best gingerbread cake for the holiday season. It’s perfectly moist and flavourful!
When I was a little girl I can still remember making this homemade gingerbread with my grandmother at Christmas time. It made the entire house smell amazing and heralded the most wonderful time of the year!
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This recipe combines all of the flavors of Christmas with warm spices and dark molasses in a classic gingerbread loaf that you will want to make in your own kitchen. It’s a good idea to stock the pantry with a few different things that I like to have on hand.
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Gingerbread Supplies:
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer with paddle attachment or
- Electric mixer and large bowl
- 9″ Bundt pan or loaf pan
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Wire cooling rack
I really like using a bundt pan as it gives the cake a fun shape and allows for easy cutting. If you don’t have a bundt pan you can use a 9×11 cake pan too. This recipe would make nice gingerbread loaves too, simply pour the batter into two loaf pans.
Gingerbread Cake Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
For frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Garnish:
- 1/4 cup frozen cranberries
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine applesauce, molasses, oil and eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and spices.
3. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on medium speed until combined.
4. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Spray the inside of the baking pan with non stick cooking spray.
6. Use a rubber spatula to pour batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake 50-55 minutes. Test with a toothpick, it should come out of the cake clean.
8. Place on a wire rack to cool before removing from the pan.
9. Combine frosting ingredients and mix until creamy.
10. Spread frosting over the top half of the cake.
11. Top with cranberries that have been tossed in sugar.
This recipe easily makes 8 servings that are perfectly paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of homemade whipped cream.
Store in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap at room temperature for a few days, if it lasts that long!
This old-fashioned recipe is wonderful as is but you can make a few substitutions if desired.
Substitute ingredients:
- I routinely use extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil in the recipe.
- Your favorite sweetener or dark brown sugar can be used in place of regular.
- Fancy molasses, light molasses, blackstrap molasses or dark corn syrup can all be used for molasses.
- Ground cloves may be left out if you don’t have any.
More gingerbread recipes:
- Make classic gingerbread cookies with the kids this year!
- These gingerbread bars are covered in a rich, cream cheese frosting. They are full of gingerbread flavor and make the perfect treat for house guests!
- This eggnog icing recipe takes traditional gingerbread to a whole new level of full flavor.
TIPS FOR HOLIDAY BAKING:
- Double or triple recipes to make large batches of goodies. This allows cookies and bars to be made in an assembly line fashion and speeds up the process.
- Pick holiday recipes that compliment each other and look good plated together. For example every year I like to make Candy Cane Brownies, Eggnog Cookies, Cranberry and Pistachio Shortbread and Peppermint Dipped Chocolate Cookies for a good variety.
- Participate in a Holiday Baking Exchange! This is a great way to prepare for a season of holiday entertaining.
- Start baking early and store goodies in the freezer until they are needed. I use these large Rubbermaid food storage containers to save a mixture of cookies and bars in my freezer so that I have them ready to go for Christmas parties and gatherings all season long.
You’ll love this gingerbread cake recipe! It’s quick, easy and tasty with a rich gingerbread flavour making it perfect for the holidays.
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Gingerbread Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine applesauce, molasses, oil and eggs.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and spices.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray the inside of the baking pan with non stick cooking spray.
- Use a rubber spatula to pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake 50-55 minutes.
- Place on a wire rack to cool before removing from the pan.
- Top with a drizzle of icing sugar, caramel sauce or cream cheese frosting.
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I’ll be making this! Happy Thanksgiving!
I can smell this n ow….Mmmmmmmmm!~! Will try for sure!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
this sounds sooooo good!! thanks for making me hungry! :)
Oh we have gingerbread every Christmas Eve! I’m going to try your recipe this year. Thanks for sharing it, it looks wonderful!