Gingerbread Layer Cake

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This Gingerbread Layer Cake is made with three tender, moist cake layers bursting with gingerbread flavor and is filled and frosted with a smooth molasses cream cheese frosting! It’s full warm, cozy spices and is sure to become a new holiday favorite!

The Best Gingerbread Cake Recipe

This gingerbread cake recipe is the perfect cake for the holidays! There’s no doubt in my mind that it is going to earn a prominent place in your holiday dessert recipes. Here’s why:

• Texture. This cake is so wonderfully tender and moist. When you add the smooth cream cheese frosting, it makes the perfect combination.
• Serious gingerbread flavor. This dessert is loaded with all sorts of warming spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. In combination with the molasses in the cake batter as well as the frosting, there’s no missing the sweet nostalgia of gingerbread flavor.
• Perfect for the holidays. There’s just something about gingerbread that screams “Christmas” and this cake does it so well. It’s the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table.

What You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe for gingerbread cake. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card below for precise measurements.

Gingerbread Cake

• All-purpose flour – Be sure to measure it properly, preferably with a food scale. Too much flour is the most common culprit to a dry cake.
• Baking powder and baking soda – I used both to get the perfect rise and texture.
• Spices – Ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, and ground cloves.
• Salt – This amplifies the flavors in the cake.
• Unsalted butter – The butter should be at room temperature. Otherwise, it won’t cream properly with the sugars and vanilla.
• Granulate sugar and brown sugar – The use of brown sugar in addition to granulated sugar brings an added depth of flavor to the cake layers along with extra moisture.
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs – Room-temperature eggs will mix more smoothly and easily into the batter. Be sure to use large eggs, not medium or extra large.
• Sour cream – This helps add extra moisture and a tender texture. In a pinch, greek yogurt would work fine.
• Buttermilk – This also adds moisture and helps give a lovely tender cake. It’s best if the buttermilk is at room temperature.
• Molasses – Be sure to use unsulphered molasses, NOT blackstrap molasses.

Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream cheese – Start with room-temperature cream cheese. Cream cheese that is too cold willy give you a lumpy frosting. Be sure to use full fat brick-style cream cheese.
• Butter – The butter should be at room temperature. If it is too cold, your frosting will likely turn out lumpy.
• Powdered sugar – To add volume to your frosting and get it a good consistency for decorating. Feel free to reduce it, if desired. Just keep in mind that adjustments change the consistency of the frosting.
• Vanilla extract
• Molasses – Again, be sure to use unsulphered molasses, NOT blackstrap molasses.
• Garnish – I used gingerbread men and sugared cranberries. You don’t have to but I think it adds a nice, festive spin.

How to Make Gingerbread Layer Cake

Here’s a simplified overview of how to make this moist, tender, Christmas-y gingerbread cake. Don’t forget to scroll to the recipe card below for more thorough instructions.

For the Cake Layers

• Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F, line the bottom of three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, and grease the sides.
• Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder baking soda, spices, and salt.
• Creaming. Cream together the butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy, and then mix in the eggs, one at a time.
• Add eggs and sour cream. Add the eggs one at a time. Then add the sour cream and mix until well combined. The mixture may look curdled.

• Put it all together. Mix half of the dry ingredients into the batter and then slowly mix in the milk followed by the molasses. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
• Bake. Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes.
• Cool. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

Make Frosting and Assemble

• Make the frosting. Mix together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and then mix in half of the powdered sugar followed by the vanilla and molasses and, finally, the rest of the powdered sugar.
• Build the cake. Remove the domes from the tops of the cakes and place a cake layer on a serving plate. Spread 1 cup of frosting over the top. Repeat with the second cake layer placed directly on top. Finish with the final cake layer and frost the outside of the cake.
• Decorate. Use the remaining frosting to pipe a border around the top edge of the cake and garnish with gingerbread men cookies and sugared cranberries.

Tips for The Best Gingerbread Cake

This cake really is simple to make. Just make sure to follow these simple tips and tricks. You’ll have the best gingerbread cake you’ve ever tasted on the table in no time.

• Don’t skimp on creaming. When creaming together the butter, sugars, and vanilla, do so until the mixture has lightened significantly in color and become fluffy. This process incorporates air into the batter, which helps ensure that your cake doesn’t turn out overly dense.
• Don’t over measure your flour. I highly recommend using a food scale. If not, check out my post on how to properly measure your flour, to be sure you don’t over measure and end up with a dry cake.
• Don’t over-mix. Once you add the dry ingredients to the batter, it is important not to over mix as this can cause the glutens in the flour to overdevelop, which will leave you with a tough, dense cake.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl. This is particularly important for this cake as the molasses loves to stick to the bowl and, by doing so, escape the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as you add and mix in ingredients.
• Let it cool. Allow the cake layers to cool completely before stacking and frosting. If the cake is still warm, the frosting will slide right off.
• Keep frosting thick. Cream cheese frosting is notoriously tough to frost with because it’s naturally thinner than buttercream. I tend to thicken mine up with the powdered sugar, but if you aren’t a fan of using that much sugar, you can reduce it. I would just recommend reducing the amount of all the ingredients by the same percentage, so that you still have a frosting that is thick enough to not slide off of your cake or allow your cake layers to slide around. So basically, you make the same frosting, just less of it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between gingerbread and gingerbread cake?

Gingerbread is typically a single layer cake and is often served without frosting. Instead, a bit of whipped cream or powdered sugar may be used. It can be a bit darker and denser.

What cookies did you use to decorate to decorate the cake?

I used Pepperidge Farms gingerman cookies. You could also make some homemade gingerbread cookies.

How do you make sugared cranberries?

Add 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water to a saucepan and heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Pour simple syrup into a heatproof bowl and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Add cranberries and stir to coat. Refrigerate cranberries for at least an hour, or overnight. Remove cranberries from syrup and roll in sugar. Set cranberries aside to dry for a hour or so, then use them.

Can you make this gluten free?

I have only tried this cake with all purpose flour, but I imagine you could make it with gluten free flour. Please let me know if you try it!

How to Store Leftovers

• Refrigerator. Seal the gingerbread cake in an airtight cake carrier or wrap it in a couple of layers of plastic wrap (I like using toothpicks to prop the plastic away from the decorations). Alternatively, arrange slices in a single layer in an airtight container. You can keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
• Freezer. Pop the cake in the freezer for a couple of hours to firm up and then wrap it in a couple of layers of plastic wrap. If you already sliced it, arrange the slices in a single layer in an airtight container. You can keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow it to thaw in the fridge before enjoying.

More Gingerbread Desserts

‘Tis the season for gingerbread and boy oh boy do I have some truly fabulous recipes for you. Here there are. Let me know which is your favorite.

• Best Gingerbread Cookies (Soft and Chewy Cutouts)
• Gingerbread Cheesecake
• Gingerbread Cookies with Eggnog Icing
• Gingerbread Cheesecake Cookie Cups
• Gingerbread Cheesecake Trifle
• Gingerbread Caramel Gooey Bars

This recipe was updated November 29, 2023. Download this PDF for the original recipe.

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