Gingerbread
Updated Nov 27, 2025
Soft gingerbread cake with molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, baked until fluffy, finished with brown sugar whipped cream. Simple ingredients and easy to make for the holidays.
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My Gingerbread is So Good!
When you think about gingerbread, your mind probably goes straight to Gingerbread Cookies. But gingerbread has a long, interesting history, dating all the way back to the 10th century! I won’t bore you with all the details, but when gingerbread crossed the Atlantic to the Americas, people here began using molasses to make it. The moisture in the molasses resulted in a soft, cake-like gingerbread, just like the old-fashioned gingerbread cake recipe I’m sharing today. With a spoonful of whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon, this is a classic gingerbread dessert for any holiday celebration!
Gingerbread Ingredients
For the gingerbread
- Dry Ingredients: I like to use light brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and unbleached all-purpose flour for this gingerbread recipe. Feel free to swap in gluten-free flour, if you like!
- Butter: I prefer unsalted, room temperature butter here.
- Egg: Room temperature eggs are best, if possible!
- Molasses: I recommend using light or medium un-sulfured molasses in this gingerbread recipe.
- Seasoning: You’ll need salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves to flavor this gingerbread.
- Hot Water: Make sure your water is hot but not boiling!.
For the whipped topping
- Heavy Cream: Don’t sub in a lower-fat dairy product, heavy cream is a must!
- Brown Sugar: I like to use light brown sugar here.
- Salt: Go for a pinch of flaky sea salt, if you have it.
- Vanilla Extract: I like the taste of vanilla here but you can try other extracts like almond or orange.
How to Make Gingerbread
Make the Whipped Topping
Gingerbread Recipe
Homemade gingerbread made with molasses, warm spices, and hot water for a super tender texture. Baked in a 9×13 pan and served warm with brown sugar whipped cream.
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup hot water
For the whipped topping
- 1 ½ cup heavy cream very cold
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- Pinch salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 13×9 baking dish with parchment paper.
- Add butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together until well combined. Add molasses and egg and mix again.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a separate bowl. Add to the butter-molasses mixture. Continue mixing until just combined. With the mixer still on, slowly pour the hot water into your batter and mix until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the whipped topping. Add heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt to a medium bowl and use a hand mixer on high speed to whip until medium to stiff peaks form.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Carefully remove from the pan and cut into 16 equal slices. Serve cake warm topped with whipped topping and an extra dash of cinnamon.
Notes
- My Top Tip: Make sure your cream (and your tools) are cold for the whipped topping. That means cold heavy cream, a cold (preferably metal!) bowl, and a cold whisk attachment. The temperature will help your whipped cream come together faster and hold its shape well. You can pop the bowl and whisk attachment right in the freezer while the cake bakes.
- Storage: You can store your gingerbread wrapped in the pan, in an airtight container, or in plastic wrap. It should keep for a week at room temperature, and up two weeks in the fridge (though it’ll stay more moist at room temperature).
- Freezing: You can store gingerbread in the freezer for up to 3 months. For maximum freshness, I recommend wrapping the pieces in plastic wrap individually, then placing them in an airtight container or freezer bag. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 318kcal, Carbohydrates: 45g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 52mg, Sodium: 209mg, Potassium: 378mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 30g, Vitamin A: 523IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 93mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Recipe Tips
- Let your butter come to room temperature. If you’ve ever tried whipping cold butter, you know the result: the butter sticks to the beaters or paddle attachment instead of blending and you get little bits of unmixed butter throughout the batter. Softened butter mixes into the batter easily!
- Make sure your cream (and your tools) are cold for the whipped topping. Using cold heavy cream, a cold (preferably metal!) bowl, and a cold whisk attachment will help your whipped cream come together faster and hold its shape well. You can pop the bowl and whisk attachment right in the freezer while the cake bakes.
- Use fresh spices. The herbs and spices in your pantry won’t spoil like other foods do; instead, they lose their flavor and aroma over time. In this simple gingerbread cake recipe, the spices are a key component, so you want to make sure they’re fresh and flavorful! The best way to tell is to simply open the jar and smell them—if they don’t have much of an aroma, they won’t have much flavor either.
Serving Ideas
- Add garnishes. Sugared cranberries, candied ginger, caramel sauce, and candied pecans are the perfect finishing touch when you’re serving this old-fashioned gingerbread cake recipe for a party.
- Plate with your holiday dessert spread. I love serving gingerbread alongside some other Christmas dessert favorites like my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or my peppermint sugar cookies.
- Pair with punch. This gingerbread goes so well with my festive Christmas punch!
FAQs
Why is my gingerbread cake dry?
Gingerbread cake is usually moist thanks to the brown sugar and molasses, so if yours turns out dry, it was either baked too long or your oven may run hot. You can salvage dry gingerbread cake by making it into a trifle!
Comments
And another SO GOOD recipe! Thank you Yumna!
You’re welcome, Suzi! So happy you liked it!!
I have an egg allergy in our home but we really wanted to try this recipe. I used 1/4c of buttermilk for the egg and it turned out great! Weโve made twice this week already!
Aww, so happy you were able to make it work without egg! That’s amazing news!! So glad you love the recipe, thank you!!
Hello, Yumna,
Can I use dates molasses in this recipe? If no what is the alternative as molasses in not available in my country.
Thank you.
Yes, that should work out well!
I did the recipe today and it turned out great. The date molasses with the species gave it an amazing taste. So good ๐
Can’t wait to try your other pound cake and bread recipes.
The cake was still giggly at the 25 minute mark. I think the timing is really off here. I had to bake it for another 15 minutes or soโฆ
As far as the taste goesโฆ The house smells amazing with the aroma of the spices.
The cake is really good! Makes for a really good simple cake to serve with tea or simply eat it for breakfast.
Made this for a party. Canโt wait to hear the guestโs feedback.
Thank you so much for the feedback, what size pan did you use? Is it possible your oven is not true to temperature?