Mmmmmmmm….there’s just nothing better than scratch Gingerbread Cake for the holidays! Now that fall has arrived, my cravings for all things cozy and spiced are in full swing! Are you having those cozy cravings too?
I think you’re going to LOVE today’s scratch recipe for Gingerbread Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting!!
This gingerbread layer cake recipe is amazingly moist, flavorful and delicious. The spiced aroma that will fill your kitchen is almost reason enough to bake the cake! Ahhhhh….
Before we made this recipe, I had always associated gingerbread with cookies or a holiday treat, but not an actual spiced gingerbread layer cake. I didn’t realize what I was missing!
What I love about this dessert is that it incorporates all of the flavors of gingerbread into fluffy cake layers. The Spiced Cream Cheese filling and frosting pair beautifully with the gingerbread cake layers. It’s a match made in heaven.
This is a welcome dessert at my house year-round, but I especially love it for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when our cravings for spiced deliciousness are at their highest! YUM!
We hope that you enjoy this fabulous scratch recipe!
How to Make Gingerbread Layer Cake
*You can find our full, printable cake recipe further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of the steps!
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. I also like to use a circle of parchment paper at the bottom of each pan.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk at least 30 seconds and set aside.
- In another bowl, add these wet ingredients: hot water, vegetable oil and molasses. Stir and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the unsalted butter until smooth. Next, slowly add the granulated sugar and mix 4 to 5 minutes on medium speed until fluffy and lightened in color.
- Add the eggs one at a time mixing just until the yolk is blended in.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the wet ingredients. Begin and end with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients). Do not mix over medium speed- mix just until well blended. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Divide the batter between the prepared 8-inch pans and bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with just a few crumbs attached).
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
There are many frostings that would taste great with this recipe, but we love to pair cream cheese frostings with spice cakes. There’s just something magical about the combination!
We’ve altered one of our go-to cream cheese frosting recipes by adding a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon to it. The result is heavenly- you’ll want to just dive right into the frosting bowl.
Keep in mind that cream cheese frostings are softer than most buttercream frostings that you may be used to working with. If at any time the frosting becomes too soft, just pop it into the refrigerator to chill for several minutes to thicken the consistency. You can do the same with your piping bags as needed.
I also like to chill my crumb coated (thin layer of frosting) cakes in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm everything up before applying the final coat of frosting. It is just easier to decorate cakes when they are chilled!
**Since cakes frosted with cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated until closer to the time of serving, you can use a less perishable frosting if you need to. Simply add the same spices to your favorite vanilla buttercream recipe for a spiced buttercream frosting! (Our classic vanilla buttercream or fluffy vanilla buttercream recipes are good options!)
More Gingerbread Cakes to Try
Do you prefer to work with doctored cake mixes? If so, you are in luck. We have an amazing Gingerbread Cake (Doctored Cake Mix) Recipe also! Moist, fluffy, and DELICIOUS cake layers with the perfect blend of spices! This recipe works wonderfully with cupcakes too!
Another great option for Gingerbread Cake is our Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe! This recipe is almost identical to our scratch gingerbread cake recipe, but with the addition of espresso!
The combination of gingerbread and espresso amazing! You can find all of the details here: Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe from Scratch
And finally our Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake combines two of our favorite fall flavors! It is soft, moist, and so flavorful!
favorite spice cakes
In addition to this amazing spiced gingerbread cake recipes, we’ve made several other favorites as well! If you love spice cakes, make sure to place these on your “must-bake” list!
Spice Cake from Scratch with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Spice Cake from Scratch
Apple Spice Cake- Doctored Cake Mix
Orange Spice Cake- Doctored Cake Mix
My Cake School Online Cake Tutorials and Recipes
Thanks for stopping by our site! We hope that you enjoy the recipe! Make sure to stop by our Recipes Section for Our Collection of FAVORITE Cake and Frosting Recipes!
If you are interested in learning more about cake decorating, don’t miss our Free Cake Tutorials section, including a section of Free Cake Videos!
Or, for full online access to every cake decorating video tutorial that we’ve made, you should consider becoming a member of My Cake School!
We have hundreds of cake decorating tutorials for all skill levels of cake decorating. You can find all of the details here!: Joining information for My Cake School
Gingerbread Cake {Scratch} with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
If you love gingerbread, you MUST try this amazing layer cake recipe! It is soft, moist, and has wonderful flavor. We love it with spiced cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients
For the Gingerbread Layers
- 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks (170g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 3 large eggs
- 3 cups (363g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
- 2 teaspoons (4g) ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons (6g) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon (1g) nutmeg
- 1 cup (236g) hot water
- 1/3 cup (65g) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (160g) molasses
For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) (339g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 packages (339 g) cream cheese (no need to soften to room temp)
- 2 teaspoons (4g) cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon (1g) nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger (2g) *sift if clumpy
- 6 to 6 1/2 cups (690g - 748g) more if needed confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Instructions
For the Cake Layers:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour three 8 inch pans, add a circle of waxed or parchment paper to the bottom of each pan.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk at least 30 seconds. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add the hot water, oil and molasses. Stir and set aside.
- Do not mix the ingredients above medium speed.
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix 4 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time mixing just until the yolk is blended in.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the wet ingredients. Begin and end with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients). Mix until just blended in, scraping the bowl a couple of times. Do not over mix. Divide evenly between your three 8 inch pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Using your mixer beat the butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add the and spices. With the mixer on low speed gradually add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until it is a good piping consistency.
I have never seen a layered Gingerbread cake! This one looks amazing, can’t wait to try it!!!!!
Thanks Anniejoe!! xo
Looks delicious! :)
Looks delicious!
Once a week I make treats for our local Senior Center. This next week I will be making your gingerbread cake; but instead I will make cupcakes out of it and put a little gingerbread cookie on the top of the cupcake. Thank you for the
beautiful start to fall. Anna Lombard
Hi Anna, That sounds great!
Since the icing has cream cheese, does this need to be refrigerated?
Hi MELISSA, YESTERDAY MADE THE GINGERBREAD CAKE. ITS’ DELICIOUS. CONCERNING THE RECIPE FOR THE ICING IN THE LIST OF
INGREDIENTS THERE WASN’T ANY VANILLA MEASUREMENTS BUT IN YOUR DIRECTIONS IT CALLED FOR IT. I USED 1 TSP. A CONTINUED FAN. ANNA
Hi Anna and Barbara, Thanks for pointing that out. The cream cheese frosting is based on our basic cream cheese recipe and I decided to leave out the vanilla so the flavors of the 3 spices would be stronger. I am sorry for the confusion, but I just added it in the instructions as I usually do. Now, I think the frosting would still be very good with the addition of 1/2 teaspoon or 1 teaspoons vanilla, you just can’t go wrong. Taste test while you are making it and see which you prefer. I hope you like the recipe!
Would this fit in a 10×10 pan or larger? Thanks in advance.
HI Teresa, This recipe makes 8 cups of cake batter. Here is a link to the Wilton Wedding Serving Chart, http://www.wilton.com/wedding/wedding-cakes/wedding-cake-data.cfm It recommends 6 cups of batter for a 10 x 10 pan 2 inches deep. Wilton Party serving Chart recommends 9 cups for a 10 x 10 pan 2 inches deep. Links to these charts are found on the homepage under Member Resources, click on Helpful Links. Hope this helps
Sweet and delicious.
https://www.winni.in/pune/cakes/c/4
Sweetness reloaded.
https://www.winni.in/pune/cakes/c/4
I made this cake yesterday – I didn’t have any molasses so I used Golden Syrup and I added a bit of ground cardamom.
Absolutely delicious. Thanks for the great recipe, and the frosting is just as good. Yum.
thanks for sharing this recipe. with use of this I made a very delicious cake.
@Elaine- Thanks! I’m so happy to hear that you were able to make it work without molasses!
@Deepu- Thanks so much for your post, I’m glad that you like the recipe!
Rajveer, Your cakes are beautiful!! Thank you for your comments!
Thank you so much for this recipe! Made it for my husbands birthday yesterday and it came out amazing! The only thing I did differef was I added a teaspoon of ground cloves to the batter and for the frosting I thinbed it out a tad with 3 tablespoons of milk. It was delicious!
Hi Crystal, We are so happy to like the recipe. Thanks for posting that you added ground cloves is case others want to try that, it sounds and looks delicious!!
Awesome!
I love the recipe. Well elaborated.
Is there any substitute for molasses. ?
Hi Rajula, I have read that you can use 1 cup maple syrup, or 1 cup dark corn syrup. I haven’t tried this, but I think it would work.
wonder how this would be with a lemon or orange curd filling between the layers?
Hi Teresa, I think either would be good as a filling. I vote for lemon curd just because it is my favorite.
Hello Melissa & BeBe! There are 2 spiced cream cheese frosting recipes. Do you have a preferred one over the other or does one make more than the other? As always, thank you for all your delicious recipes!
Hi GuppyLove, We like both of the recipes, the other recipe, here is a link https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes/spiced-cream-cheese-frosting/ is less sweet with only 3 cups of powdered sugar. It is also better for piping. I forgot to measure but I think both recipe make about the same amount……enough to fill and frost a 3 layer 8 inch cake.
This is definitely my new favourite cake recipe. Thanks Bebe for posting!
Hi, i like your recipe. Like always. Only i wonder why one time 1 tsp is just 1 gram and the next time 4 grams while it is all powder! The same happens with the 1 tbsp …there are diffrences too. And 1 more question….are you really sure that 3 cups flour makes only 363 grams?Cos in totall of 2 cups sugar is already 417 grams! Mayby i missunderstood since english’s not my speaking language. And we only use grams, no cups or tsp or tbsp! Mayby i’m mistaken that way, but will you please explain to me? Thank you very much in advance!!
Hi Marja, the most accurate way to measure your ingredients is by weight, as you are used to. The measurements in the recipe are correct. Ingredients weigh differently. For instance, a cup of sugar is heavier than a cup of flour, which is why you see a difference in gram weight despite the cup or teaspoon measurement being the same.
This recipe looks divine!! Wondering if it can be made into a bundt pan?
Hi Glenda, You should be able to make this in a bundt pan with no problem. The recipe makes 8 cups batter….fill the bundt pan 2/3’s full. Depending on the size of your pan, you might have leftover batter for a few cupcakes.
I love the GINGERBREAD CAKE I want to make a gingerbread cake your explanation of recipe made easy for me thanks a lot
Hi! We loved the flavour of the cake, lovely recipe! I substituted molasses for golden syrup and it was lovely and fluffy. The buttercream was too runny, I added extra icing but did not get the right consistency still, LOVELY!! See resulta.
Hi
thanks for the recipe can it be halfed
Hi Tebogo, I have not tried that with this recipe but I think you could do so with no problem.
Did you guys change this recipe? I was double checking the instructions, and I realized there was no longer brown sugar in the ingredients like I have written down.
@JadesRevenge- Hello! Yes, we did make some changes to this recipe last month based on feedback that we were getting. Although everyone loved the flavor, sometimes people had trouble with the layers sinking a little after taking out of the oven. When we made our Gingerbread Latte Cake last month, we decided to revamp the original gingerbread cake recipe–the flavor is just as good but I think the results are more consistent.
Ok, awesome :) I’ll try it the new way!
Hi, for the gingerbread cake. If I want to make cupcakes how long would I bake them? What about mini Bundt cakes? Would either of these require an oven temperature change?
Hi Deb, For a standard size cupcake, bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. I’m not sure of the size of your mini bundt pan, but if it is the mini bundt pan that makes 6 ……..bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, keep an eye on them. When a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached it is done.
HI Melissa, I really love you cakes they are beautiful. I need a recipe for a spice cake. I prefer home made how can I use this recipe for that. What can I use instead of the molasses. Thanks so much…
Hi Linda, Thank you for your nice compliment. If you need a substitute for the 1/2 cup molasses you could use 1/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar plus 3 Tablespoons hot water and stir. You could also use 1/2 cup maple syrup. Here is link to our Pecan Spice Cake,
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes/pecan-spice-layer-cake/
You could leave out the pecans in this recipe and have a spice cake.
Hello!
Quick question, would it be possible to take ginger root and grate it and use fresh ginger for this recipe?
I know the recipe calls for ground ginger, but I wanted to know what adjustments needed to be made if you are using fresh ginger.
I am making it as a wedding cake for a close friend!
Hi Tianna, I have only used ground ginger for baking because it blends more easily with the other ingredients. I don’t have first hand experience with using fresh ginger.