This super moist gingerbread layer cake is bursting with bold flavors of ginger, molasses, and cinnamon, all topped with a tangy, spiced cream cheese frosting. It’s the perfect cozy dessert and an irresistible holiday treat that your family and friends will love!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Inspired by my easy gingerbread cake, this recipe takes things up a notch! Here’s why it’s bound to become a favorite:
1. Bold, Spicy Flavors:
Packed with generous amounts of ginger powder and a medley of warm spices, this gingerbread cake delivers all the rich, nostalgic flavors of a perfectly spiced gingerbread cookie.
2. Incredibly Moist:
Using oil as the primary fat ensures the cake layers are irresistibly moist, staying tender and flavorful for days.
3. Effortless to Make:
This recipe is wonderfully simple—no electric mixers or complicated techniques required. Just mix, bake, and enjoy!
Perfect for cozy gatherings or holiday celebrations, this gingerbread cake is as easy as it is impressive.
For more spiced cake recipes, check out my spiced apple cake, spice cake, carrot cake and pumpkin cake recipes.
How to Make a Gingerbread Layer Cake
You can find the full list of ingredients for this gingerbread cake recipe in the recipe card at the end of the blog post (for easy navigation, hit the ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the blog post). Here is a quick visual breakdown of the recipe (recipe video is also provided in the recipe card below).
Gingerbread Cake
Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional and grease two 8-inch cake pans (I use my homemade cake release). I don’t usually line the bottoms with parchment paper for this recipe, however you can if you’re worried about the cakes sticking to the pan.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine light brown sugar, vegetable oil, blackstrap molasses, egg and vanilla. Using a whisk mix until well combined and smooth.
Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and using a whisk, mix until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
Finish off by adding in hot milk, and using a whisk, mix until well combined and smooth. Do not overmix.
Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Drop the cake tins lightly on the counter to release any large air bubbles and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 20 minutes, before turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool. While cooling, prepare the frosting.
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
To a large bowl add in unsalted butter and using an electric mixer, cream for a few minutes on a medium high speed until it’s light and fluffy.
Add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in your cold cream cheese, vanilla and fresh lemon juice and mix on a medium speed, just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing. If using a stand mixer, you may need to mix on a high speed with the whisk attachment to get everything nice and smooth.
Assembly
Begin by levelling the tops of the cake layers. They’re already quite flat, so I only trim off a small amount.
Place the first cake layer onto your cake stand/serving plate and spread out a generous amount of frosting (I use my offset spatula).
Place your next cake layer on top and spread out a generous amount of frosting on the top and sides. You can use a cake scraper to smooth out the sides (see video demonstration).
Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip on it and pipe swirls around the top of the cake. Slice and enjoy!
How to Store Gingerbread Cake
This cake can be left out at room temperature for about half a day, but due to the cream cheese, it will need to be refrigerated after that/overnight.
Place in an airtight container before putting it in the fridge to prevent the cake from drying out. For more tips on how to best store a cake in the fridge and prevent it from drying out, check out my blog post on 3 uncommon baking tips.
Moist Gingerbread Layer Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake
- 2¼ cups (270 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tsp ginger powder - ground ginger, can reduce to 2 tsp for a less spiced/more kid friendly cake
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (200 g) light soft brown sugar - firmly packed (see note 1)
- 1 cup (215 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- ½ cup (140 g) blackstrap molasses - see note 2 for using light molasses
- 2 large egg - room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
- ¾ cup (180 g) hot milk - make sure it's hot (not just warm) and use whole milk
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 4½ cups (570 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners' sugar
- 1½ cups (335 g) cream cheese - cold, firm type (see note 3)
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract/essence
- 1 tbsp lemon juice - freshly squeezed (not artificial)
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Gingerbread Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 4 if using a convection oven) and grease two 8-inch cake pans (I use my homemade cake release).
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine light brown sugar, vegetable oil, blackstrap molasses, egg and vanilla. Using a whisk mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and using a whisk, mix until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Finish off by adding in hot milk, and using a whisk, mix until well combined and smooth. Do not overmix.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Drop the cake tins lightly on the counter to release any large air bubbles and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 20 minutes, before turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool. While cooling, prepare the frosting.
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- To a large bowl add in unsalted butter and using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - use the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) cream for a few minutes on a medium high speed until it's light and fluffy.
- Add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
- Next add in your cold cream cheese, vanilla, fresh lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon and mix on a medium speed, just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing. If using a stand mixer, you may need to mix on a high speed to get everything nice and smooth (see note 5 if your frosting is lumpy).
- Once the cake layers are completely cool, assemble the cake. See blog post above or recipe video to see how I assemble mine 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
23 Comments
This is a very easy cake to make. Super festive and nice and moist. I only did three cups of powdered sugar in my frosting and that was plenty sweet for me.
Thanks so much Alexis! So glad you loved the recipe and happy to hear you were able to successfully adjust the sweetness level in the frosting 🙂
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
This cake turned out incredible! My 9 yo son and I made it for our big christmas eve family party. I chose this recipe simply because I had all the ingredients and my son was passionate about making a “gingerbread cake” even though I was skeptical.
The recipe is straightforward, we had all the ingredients and equipment, and the results are very good. Outstanding warm spiced flavor, soft not-too-dense texture. Everyone loved it.
I used only 2 tsp ground ginger (per the kid friendly suggestion) and plain cream cheese frosting (omit lemon and spices.) The finished cake had a slight indent in the center versus the usual dome but it didn’t affect the texture at all.
I’ll definitely be saving this recipe, it is wonderful.
Hi Kathy! So so happy to hear everyone loved the recipe and that the kid friendly suggestion helped! 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
In terms of the indent in the centre, this usually happens if the cakes are baked in pans that are too small or if all the batter is baked in one 8 inch pan (too much batter can affect the rise of the cake). If this isn’t the case, then it could be due to some other reasons like opening the oven door too early. For more tips on how to prevent cakes from sinking in check out this blog post: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/why-did-my-cake-sink-in-the-middle/
So glad the cake still turned out great despite the indent and hope the extra tips help for next time 😀
Could I freeze the cake and ice later?
Hi Priscilla! 🙂
I haven’t tried freezing these cake layers myself, but I think if wrapped well with clingwrap and placed into an airtight container before freezing, it should be fine.
Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out 🙂
Can you make this cake in a 13×9 pan?
Hi Kellie! 🙂
Yes 1x the recipe should work well in a 9×13 inch pan, it’ll likely just bake up a bit faster so I would check the cake a little earlier than the stated cook time.
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hello, you haven’t mentioned what to do with the cornstarch in your method. Also, I’m in Australia so can you please confirm if all-purpose flour is self-raising flour? One more thing… the cream cheese, the chilled type you speak of…do you mean like Philadelphia Cream Cheese that comes in blocks in the chiller section? If so, when it’s cold it’s difficult to mix, so wouldn’t it be better to wait until it softens? I’d love to try this recipe but will hold off until I receive your reply. Thank you on advance.
Hi Rachel! 🙂
So sorry for the delay in reply here. Thanks so much for mentioning the cornstarch is missing – I updated this a while back so you should be able to see it in the instructions now under step 2 🙂
Yes for the cream cheese I mean the block type – I usually find that when using a hand mixer it isn’t a issue mixing it in at the end as you have more control over the mixing, however I have had people in the past mention that when using a stand mixer it’s a bit harder. What you can do is whip the cold cream cheese on its own first to get it smooth, and then add it to the frosting at the end. Keeping it cold just helps the frosting stay nice and firm 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
All purpose flour in AU is plain flour, just not cake plain flour. Pauline AU
When and where do you add the cornstarch in the cake recipe?
Hi Morgan 🙂
Sorry for the confusion here! I amended the recipe a few weeks back (the cornstarch is added in after the flour – step 2 in the recipe card) but have only been able to get to your comment now – so sorry about that!
Hope this helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
This sounds amazing I think I’ll try make this for Christmas but at what point do you add the spices to the frosting please and thank you.
Thanks Abby! 🙂
Sorry I’ve amended the recipe so you know when to put the spices in 🙂
Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention and hope you enjoy the recipe!
Looking forward to trying your recipe..
Thanks Dale! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Hello,
I was pleased to see that this recipe can be scaled up or down but there is no instruction on which size baking tins are needed. Can you help please?
Hi Margaret! 🙂
Yes sorry about that, the quantities scale up and down but I’m not sure how to make the cake tin size scale up and down too. For half the recipe you want to use either one 8 inch tin or two 6 inch cake tins, and for double the recipe you want to use two 10 inch cake tins, or four 8 inch cake tins.
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Hi there, the case looks amazing – i was wondering would you change anything to make this into 12 cup cakes? (Moist Gingerbread Layer Cake)
Thanks so much Wendy! 🙂
For 12 cupcakes you may want to half the recipe (this will give you around 10-12 cupcakes) and reduce the cook time to about the 18 min mark and bake more if needed 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!