Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (2024)

Julie Clark

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Take a bite of Christmas with this Easy Gingerbread Cake. It’s a small homemade cake with the best gingerbread flavor. Leave plain or top with frosting.

I didn’t grow up loving gingerbread, but in my adult life I can’t get enough of it. Give me a layered gingerbread cake or a simple gingerbread coffee cake. I’ll take it any way!

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (2)

Today we’re sharing a quick homemade cake that I love for several reasons.

  1. It’s small. You bake this in an 9″ square baking pan.
  2. It’s easy. You’ll most likely have these ingredients on hand!
  3. It tastes like Christmas. And who doesn’t love Christmas.

Let’s dig into talking all about this easy gingerbread cake!

Does gingerbread have ginger?

Yes! Gingerbread has powdered ginger in it. It also commonly has molasses which gives it the dark brown look.

What does gingerbread taste like?

Gingerbread gets its flavor from the spices in the bread. You’ll combine ginger, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg to get that spicy, snappy flavor. You can increase the spices if you’d like it to have a stronger flavor.

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (3)

What is the difference between gingerbread and gingersnaps?

Gingerbread is soft and cake like. It’s baked in a loaf pan or in a cake pan and is has the texture of any other sweet bread. Gingersnaps are a crispier cookie that crunch when you eat them. This is where the term “snap” comes from.

How to Make Easy Gingerbread Cake

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 9 inch square baking pan by greasing bottom, sides, and corners with butter.
  • Place milk in a saucepan and heat just until it begins to boil. Immediately remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Set aside.
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (4)
  • In a large bowl, whisk together molasses and eggs.
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (5)
  • Add butter to bowl and stir, mashing butter into the sides of the bowl to help reduce the size of the clumps. Some clumps will remain.
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (6)
  • In another bowl, mix together sugar, flour, and spices.
  • Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients alternately with the milk and whisk until smooth.
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (7)
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (8)
  • Transfer batter to baking pan.
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Place baking pan on a wire rack and cool for about 30 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (9)

Topping for Gingerbread Cake

What is the best topping for gingerbread cake? Here are a few of our favorites:

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (10)

How to Store Gingerbread Cake

With this cake unfrosted, you store it in an airtight container at room temperature. If it dusted with powdered sugar, glaze or frosting, you can also leave it at room temperature.

If you top it with whipped cream you’ll want to store it in the refrigerator.

Can you freeze gingerbread cake?

Yes! This cake freezes well. Seal it well to protect it, then when you are ready to serve the cake, allow it to completely defrost before taking it out of the packaging.

Other Christmas Cake Recipes

  • Christmas Bundt Cake
  • Molasses Spice Cake
  • Easy Spice Cake
  • Eggnog Cake

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (11)

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (12)

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe

4.32 from 19 votes

Take a bite of Christmas with this Easy Gingerbread Cake. It's a small homemade cake with the best gingerbread flavor. Leave plain or top with frosting.

Servings 10

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Print RecipeReview Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 9 inch square baking pan by greasing bottom, sides and corners with butter.

  • Place milk in a saucepan and heat just until it begins to boil. Immediately remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Set aside.

  • In a large bowl, whisk together molasses and eggs.

  • Add butter to bowl and stir, mashing butter into the sides of the bowl to help reduce the size of the clumps. Some clumps will remain.

  • In another bowl, mix together sugar, flour, and spices. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients alternately with the milk and whisk until smooth.

  • Transfer batter to baking pan.

  • Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Place baking pan on a wire rack and cool for about 30 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

  • Top with whipped cream, caramel sauce, powdered sugar, or your desired toppings.

Author Julie Clark

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword christmas cake, easy christmas cake, easy spice cake, molasses cake

Have you tried this recipe?

Share a review below or share on Instagram with the tag #tastesoflizzyt.

Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (13)
Easy Gingerbread Cake Recipe {Small 9" Square Christmas Spice Cake} (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between spice cake and gingerbread cake? ›

Spices. Including ginger (of course!), nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. Cloves and molasses are what really set the gingerbread flavor apart from pumpkin spice and give this cake a more wintry, true-gingerbread flavor than my spice cake or carrot cake.

What is the best gingerbread in the world? ›

Victorian cook Sarah Nelson invented Grasmere Gingerbread® in 1854 in the English Lake District village from where it gets its name. A unique, spicy-sweet cross between a biscuit and cake, its reputation quickly spread and it is now enjoyed by food lovers all over the world.

Why is my gingerbread cake dry? ›

If your gingerbread cake comes out dry, there could be a few reasons. Overbaking the cake, overmixing the cake, or the oven being too hot will lead to a dry cake.

Does anyone make gingerbread cake mix? ›

Betty Crocker™ Gingerbread Cake Mix - BettyCrocker.com.

What are the three types of gingerbread? ›

The three distinct types of gingerbread are brown gingerbread, wafer-based gingerbread and honey gingerbread.
  • BROWN GINGERBREAD.
  • WAFER GINGERBREAD.
  • HONEY GINGERBREAD.

What makes gingerbread taste like gingerbread? ›

Spice Combinations

Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.

Why has my ginger cake sunk in the middle? ›

My cake has sunk in the middle.

There are three main reasons for this: a/ the oven door has been opened before the cake has set, b/ the cake didn't go in the oven as soon as the mixture was ready or c/ there's too much raising agent.

Why has my gingerbread cake cracked? ›

If your oven is too hot, the outside of your cake will bake much more quickly than the inside, leading to a peak or crack. The top of your cake may also get too dark. Oven thermostats can be wildly off, so if this often happens, invest in a separate oven thermometer.

How do you add moisture to a dry Christmas cake? ›

Here are five tips for how to moisten a dry cake once it's already been baked.
  1. Brush with simple syrup glaze. Velez recommends adding a simple syrup glaze to your cake layers if they end up coming out too dry. ...
  2. Soak your cake in milk. ...
  3. Fill the cake with mousse or jam. ...
  4. Frost the cake. ...
  5. Stick it in the fridge.
Apr 27, 2021

What kind of cake mix does Dolly Parton have? ›

Dolly Parton Adds to Her Line of Duncan Hines Baking Mixes

Mixes new in this release include chocolate cake and chocolate frosting, yellow cake mix, cinnamon crumb cake mix, blueberry muffin mix, and banana nut muffin mix.

Which cake mix is better Pillsbury or Betty Crocker? ›

As a professional baker, I too was impressed with the crumb on both the Pillsbury and Betty Crocker cakes, but Betty Crocker has a more even texture, better flavor, and is more moist.

Is it cheaper to buy cake mix or make from scratch? ›

If healthfulness is a big factor in your cake consumption, this might be a winning argument for you for homemade over boxed mix. MAKE OR BUY? Honestly, we could go either way with this one. The box mix is about $1.50 cheaper and requires less effort, energy, and attention.

What is spice cake made of? ›

Made with a combination of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, this spice cake recipe is a rich and flavorful dessert you won't be able to get enough of. This cake is so rich, soft, and moist thanks to the combination of oil, applesauce, and buttermilk, and it'll melt in your mouth.

Why is it called spice cake? ›

Spice cake is a type of cake that is traditionally flavored with a mixture of spices. The cake can be prepared in many varieties. Predominant flavorings include spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg.

What's the difference between gingerbread and pumpkin spice? ›

What's The Difference Between Pumpkin Pie Spice And Gingerbread Spice? Both actually include most, if not all, of these same ingredients, though in different amounts. Pumpkin pie spice is heavy on cinnamon, while gingerbread spice has a balance of cinnamon, allspice, and ginger.

What is ginger cake made of? ›

Mix the flour, sugar, ginger and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl. Using your fingers, rub the margarine in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg, syrup and hot water and mix well with a wooden spoon until combined.

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