Classic Gingerbread Cake Recipe
I positively love the flavor of ginger. Whether it’s pickled ginger with sushi, ginger ale (mint ginger ale is a favorite variety of mine), candied ginger or ultimate ginger cookies, if it has ginger in it, there’s a 99.9% chance I’m going to love it. Which is why it’s so shocking (and wrong) that up until this week, I had never made a proper gingerbread cake for the holidays. Molasses, ginger, beer, and spice – what’s not to love?! Turns out, absolutely nothing. This cake rises beautifully, is soft and moist, and most importantly – packed with boatloads of flavor. Christmas needs gingerbread, I’ve decided. I’ve seriously missed out until now!
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I’ve been eating this plain, straight from the plate (breakfast of champions!) but I also think that a dollop of sweetened whipped cream would be a nice touch to the cake.
An extra tip: If you wrap it well in plastic wrap and let it sit overnight before serving, it becomes even moister and the flavor really bursts, I highly recommend it!
One year ago: 30 Favorite Christmas Cookies & Recipes
Two years ago: Homemade Food Gift Ideas
Classic Gingerbread Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (172.5 ml) stout, recommended: Guinness
- ½ teaspoons (0.5 teaspoons) baking soda
- ⅔ cup (224.67 ml) molasses
- ¾ cup (165 g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) finely ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup (72.67 ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.
- Bring the stout to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda (mixture will foam up). When foaming subsides, stir in molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until dissolved; set mixture aside.
- Whisk the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pepper together in a large bowl; set aside.
- Transfer the stout mixture to a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, oil, and grated ginger until combined. Whisk the wet mixture into the flour mixture in thirds, stirring vigorously until completely smooth after each addition.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and gently tap the pan against the counter 3 or 4 times to pop any large air bubbles. Bake until the the of the cake is just firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 1½ hours. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.
Notes
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I use this every year! I’ve tweaked the spices slightly (added a small amount of allspice, cloves, and nutmeg) but other than that this recipe is excellent. it’s lovely served warm with lightly sweetened whipped cream, and lasts for an absurd amount of time because of being oil based.
forgot to mention this but this recipe can be sticky so make sure your pan is well greased and maybe don’t make it in pans where it could get stuck in crevices.
I want to make this but omit the stout…is there a substitute
Hi Olive, You can substitute a non-alcoholic beer.
Dear Brown Eyed Baker,
In regards to the gingerbread cake recipe…..is it ok to eliminate the fresh ginger if you don’t have it available?
Thanks much,
Dardanella
Hi Dardanella, You can, but it will greatly reduce the ginger flavor.
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday, he loves ginger cake and ginger snaps and ginger in general. The molasses was a little too much for me, but my husband thought it was great. I’ve read other recipe comments that recommend using mild molasses, so that might have helped. I served the cake with the salted caramel sauce recipe also featured on this site, along with a side of ice cream. It was a great combo!
This is the recipe from Cook’s Illustrated magazine, January/February 2011, issue number 108, page 25.
Have you tried it, and if so what are your thoughts?
Hi..
It seems delicious, but I don’t use beer or wine. With what can I substitute them????
Hi Meryam, Unfortunately, I’ve never tried it with anything else, so I’m not sure what an appropriate substitution would be.
Just made this. I didn’t have any Guiness on hand so I used Vanilla Porter instead and I used ground all spice instead of pepper. A-Mazing!!
My father was born and raised in the Beechview/Dormont area of Pittsburgh, and he would talk about his Welsh grandmother would making it and putting hard sauce on it. i remember as a kid, my father liked to dip ginger snaps in hard sauce that you could buy in a jar. I guess that was the closest to his childhood dessert. My mother was not much of a cook and did not bake. Her attempts were scary! You could never tell her mother and aunt were from Pa Dutch country and could cook and the baking was out of this world. They were always baking for me after they moved to Florida when I was little.
Oh yum! I Loved this idea and featured it on my St Paddy’s day roundup. please feel free to share with your social media networks too! http://mummydeals.org/st-patricks-day-recipe-round-up/
Have you ever tried to make it in loaf form? I’m thinking of trying it so that it can be eaten for breakfast and not be called “cake.” haha… but really, yes or no?
Hi Melissa, Yes I do think you could do that! Great idea!
Do you think I could bake this in a Bundt pan?
Hi Jack, No, there isn’t enough batter for the volume of a Bundt pan.
For a large bunt pan I always use 2 boxes of cake mix. Works great.
Mmmm, mmm! Just saw this on Pinterest! My mom made gingerbread often through the years when I was growing up, using a recipe from one of the popular standard cookbooks of the era. We always had it with sweetened whipped cream. This is what was expected when someone said gingerbread for those generations past, at least in our extended family/friends (gingerbread cookies were “gingerbread cookies”). We recently made it again with mom, only we put some crystallized ginger in the food processor and pulsed it, then sprinkled bits and sugary powder over the top of the whipped cream. She’d probably like this stout-containing recipe better!
I made this the other day and it turned out great! Wasn’t sure how so much molasses would taste (I find the smell a bit off-putting. I used the Grandma’s brand — is there a milder one I should have tried?) but the end result was delicious. Didn’t make or buy any whipped cream, but some Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream was just as good.
Hi Lisa, I’m glad you liked it! I use the Grandma brand of molasses, or Brer Rabbit. They are both milder molasses, you definitely don’t want to use something like black strap, very strong!
Try topping the homemade gingerbread with homemade lemon curd…. Unbelievable !
I really want to make some gingerbread, but I don’t have any stout on hand. Can I use regular beer or leave out the stout altogether?
Hi Tracey, I wouldn’t leave it out, but I would use a dark beer if you can. A light beer or an ale won’t have the same outcome.
This gingerbread reminds me of one that my mom made when I was younger. I always loved that she let us have it for breakfast. Now I’m craving some!