There's just nothing better than homemade Gingerbread Cake, especially this time of year.
Now that fall has arrived, our cravings for warm spices and all things cozy are in full swing!
If you like gingerbread desserts, you are going to LOVE this moist Gingerbread Cake recipe with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting. It is the perfect cake for the holiday season!
This gingerbread 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 a perfect holiday treat or gingerbread cookies, but not an actual spiced layer cake. I didn't realize what I was missing!
What I love about this cozy 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 delicious recipe!
How to Make Gingerbread Layer Cake
*You can find our full, printable recipe card further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of the steps!
- First, preheat the oven temperature 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, ground 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.
- With an electric mixer/ hand mixer (using a paddle attachment if a stand mixer), beat the unsalted butter until smooth. Next, slowly add the granulated sugar (white sugar) and mix 4 to 5 minutes on medium speed until fluffy and lightened in color.
- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each just until the yolk is blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the wet mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients).
- Mix just until blended after last addition. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Divide the cake batter into each of the three prepared cake pans (8 inch) and bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes. Bake times can vary slightly--the cake layers are done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (or with just a few crumbs attached).
- Cool the cake layers in the pans on a wire rack for ten minutes before turning our the warm gingerbread cake layers.
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
There are many frostings that would taste great with this recipe, but we always love the combination of tangy cream cheese frosting with spice cakes. There's just something magical about this pairing!
For our spiced cream cheese frosting recipe, we've altered one of our go-to cream cheese frosting recipes by adding a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon. 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!
Alternative Frostings
**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!)
Assembling the Gingerbread Cake
- This moist gingerbread cake couldn't be simpler to assemble! Place the first cooled cake layer on a cake plate or pedestal. Spread with a layer of spiced cream cheese frosting. Repeat for the next two cake layers.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake with a thin layer (crumb coat) of frosting. At this point, I like to chill the cake for 10-15 minutes in the freezer until firm. This is an optional step, but helpful!
- Next, frost the cake with the second (final) layer of frosting. We added additional texture around the sides and top of the frosted cake with a small offset spatula.
- We also added a shell border with a medium sized star tip 21.
- Decorate the cake however you like! The options are endless. Make sure to chill the frosting or piping bag for a few minutes if it becomes too soft!
More Gingerbread Cakes to Try
We have a few more delicious gingerbread cakes that you must try!
We have a super easy & flavorful Gingerbread Cake (Doctored Cake Mix) Recipe , a Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe from Scratch with amazing ginger and espresso flavor, and finally our Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake which is a heavenly combination of ginger and pumpkin- so good!
The next time you have a gingerbread craving, remember this post- you'll have lots of great options!
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
Enjoy the Recipe!
Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this recipe- keep it in mind for fall and winter birthdays, the holiday menu, Christmas dinner, or for the gingerbread lover in your life ;0)
This cake should be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting. For best flavor and texture, remove from the refrigerator a few hours before serving. Enjoy just as it is, with a dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream- you cannot go wrong!
Please leave a comment and photo below if you give this cake a try. We would love to hear what you think!
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 ½ cups (300g) sugar
- 1 ½ 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
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 2 teaspoons (4g) ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons (6g) ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (1g) nutmeg
- 1 cup (236g) hot water
- ⅓ cup (65g) vegetable oil
- ½ cup (160g) molasses
For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) (339g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ packages (339 g) cream cheese (no need to soften to room temp)
- 2 teaspoons (4g) cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (1g) nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger (2g) *sift if clumpy
- 6 to 6 ½ 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.
Hi I am wanting to make this cake before Christmas Eve. I have a charity event I participate in on Christmas Eve Christmas Day. I have made cakes before early and freeze them before assembling them. Can I do that with this cake?
Thanks,
Amy