So tasty and delicious, Gingerbread Layer Cake Recipe, flavored with ginger and molasses, will definitely get you in the holiday spirit!
You may be most familiar with Gingerbread baked goods in the form of Gingerbread cookies and houses. Gingerbread cookies are all the rage at Christmas.
Why Gingerbread at Christmas?
Gingerbread can be traced to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians and was considered sacred. It made an appearance in Europe when 11th-century Crusaders brought back ginger from the Middle East for the aristocrats’. Gingerbread was sacred and expensive therefore the only time it was made by the general public was during Christmas and Easter.
Additionally, the gingerbread house became popular in Germany after the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” was published in the 19th century. Early German settlers in America brought the gingerbread house tradition with them.
Do you make Gingerbread cookies or house at Christmas?
Gingerbread Layer Cake Recipe
If you like Gingerbread Cookies, you’ll love this cake. It has a nice, mild, warm gingerbread flavor. I topped it with a Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.
Traditionally, ginger is paired with cloves, nutmeg, or cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. I used ground cinnamon in my cake and sweetened it with molasses.
This cake paired with creamy frosting makes it a sweet sensation! However, if you don’t like really sweet desserts, this cake tastes amazing without any frosting. We like it served warm with butter melted over the top. If I don’t plan to frost it, I bake it in a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In testing this recipe, I found that, like chocolate, gingerbread bakes slightly faster than other cakes.
- For two 8-inch cake layers, I baked them for 27 minutes.
- If you have three 8-inch cake layers, they’ll bake in approximately 25 minutes.
Cake Making Tips
These helpful tips will ensure a delectable cake every time you bake:
While you’re here, try some of these classic recipes!
- Caramel Pie
- Chocolate Pie
- Pecan Pie
- Fig Preserve Pound Cake
- Chess Pie
- Buttermilk Pie
- Butter Roll
- No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
- Cornbread Dressing
- Squash Casserole
- Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake
- Southern Layered Jam Cake
Gingerbread Layer Cake Recipe
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Save To Your Recipe BoxIngredients
CAKE
- 3 cups all-purpose flour sifted then measured correctly
- 1 and ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 and ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup water
FROSTING
- 12 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- ¾ cup butter real butter, not margarine
- 3 tablespoon maple syrup or molasses
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 cup powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening and flour or Wilton Cake release.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda together.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together until creamy. Add molasses and eggs. Beat until well combined. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour alternately with the water. (I add 1/3 flour, 1/2 water, 1/3 flour, 1/2 water, and final 1/3 flour.) Mix well between each addition. Stop mixer and scrape sides, mix again to combine everything.
- Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake for 27 to 32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with dry crumbs. Cool on a wire rack.
- Cool cake in pans for 10 minutes before inverting on wire racks to cool completely.
FROSTING
- Add maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. Beat on low until well combined.
- With the mixer on low add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Mix until well combined and creamy before adding the next cup of sugar. If it starts to get too thick to be spreadable you can cut back on the sugar or you can add a little whole milk or (I prefer) heavy cream.
FROST CAKE
- Once the cake has cooled completely, frost the cake.
- Level the cake layers if necessary. Frost cake.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
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Jan says
This is very yummy. Husband loved it too. I did find that it needed to be cooked much longer. I could of done with half the frosting. Also very yummy