Your holiday season ain’t complete without a slice of this delicious Gingerbread Cake Recipe. It starts off with the most moist and just-right spiced gingerbread batter that makes the dreamiest textured cake your taste buds will ever meet! Then, there’s this simple, sweet maple syrup glaze kissed that just flows over the top, taking all those scrumptious cake flavors to new heights.
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The holidays simply aren’t complete without the flavors of gingerbread! We all know and love gingerbread during this time of year, and we mostly enjoy it in cookie form. But honey, let me tell you, this cake might change your mind. Instead of spending days upon days making a gingerbread house, get at this cake instead.
It’s got all the moist, tender texture of my other bundt cakes but with a balance of the classic gingerbread spices, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice! This gingerbread cake recipe is sure to be a hit this holiday season with all your family and friends! Get at it!
Heart & Soul of the Best Gingerbread Bundt Cake Recipe
Cuisine Inspiration: American
Primary Cooking Method: Bake
Dietary Info: Perfect for those without dietary restrictions. It contains gluten, dairy, and eggs.
Key Flavor: A cozy spice medley with a punch of ginger takes center stage, warming up your taste buds.
Skill Level Required: Fear not, bakers! This recipe is intermediate, offering a bit of a challenge but promising a delicious reward.
Sweet Spots
- Timeless Appeal: This gingerbread bundt cake delivers a classic charm that never goes out of style. You feel the nostalgia while baking it for reals.
- Spice Symphony: Ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg create a warm mix of spices that take this cake over the top. Flavor on flavor!
- Moist Magic: Ingredients like brown sugar and molasses guarantee a tender bite and moist crumb.
- Easy Elegance: The Bundt pan ensures a stunning presentation with minimal effort on your part.
- Any Occasion Wonder: Just because it’s popular during the holidays doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy gingerbread cake any time of year! From holidays to brunches, this cake is versatile and ready to shine.
Ingredients
The key ingredients that give this gingerbread cake mix so much flavor are the following:
- Spices: Whenever you make anything ginger-flavored ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves are the key spices that are essential to creating the true essence and flavor of gingerbread.
- Butter: The butter adds a wonderful richness and fat to the cake.
- Molasses and Brown Sugar: This recipe has a double dose of molasses flavor from both the cup of molasses and the brown sugar that has molasses in it. Seriously the depth of flavor is amazing!
- Sugar: The cake also uses white granulated sugar for sweetness and confectioner’s sugar to make the glaze.
- Eggs: The yolks add incredible moistness to a cake while the egg whites which are more drying help with the structure.
- Buttermilk: It’s a key component in making this cake so moist and delicious. It adds more richness and the tang is just irresistible.
- All-purpose flour: A key ingredient to our cake to create the structure for the cake.
- Baking soda and salt: The baking soda gives the cake some lift and lightness while the salt enhances the flavors.
- Vanilla extract: Gives the cake a naturally sweet, creamy, and warm essence that brings everything together.
- Maple syrup: Gives the glaze the perfect flavor that goes so well with the gingerbread.
- Milk: For thinning out the glaze to the perfect consistency. You can use any type of milk you have on hand.
How to Make a Gingerbread Bundt Cake
Step 1: Bake the Cake
- Combine the butter, sugars, and molasses in a stand mixer and beat until the mixture is fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the bowl and mix well after each addition.
- Add the dry ingredients while the mixer is on low speed.
- Add the buttermilk and vanilla to the bowl.
- Mix until the cake batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into a prepared pan. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes and then cool for 10 minutes in the pan, before transferring it to a rack to cool completely.
Step 2: Make the Glaze
- Combine the confectioner’s sugar, maple syrup, and milk in a bowl.
- Whisk it together until it’s a pourable consistency.
Step 3: Assemble Your Cake
- Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.
- Garnish with snowflakes, fresh herbs, or sugared cranberries.
Tips for Making the Best Gingerbread Bundt Cake
- Prep Your Bundt Pan: Be sure to coat all the nooks and crannies in your pan with butter or shortening to prevent the cake from sticking. Then dust it lightly with flour before adding the batter.
- Use Fresh Spices: The flavor of this cake relies on the spices so it’s essential to use fresh spices for a more vibrant and robust flavor.
- Cool the Cake in the Pan: When it first comes out of the oven the cake is quite delicate so giving it a brief amount of time to cool in the pan helps set it up. It will be easier to remove it from the cake pan while maintaining its structure.
- Use Room Temperature Ingredients: The butter, buttermilk, and eggs will all mix more easily at room temperature. Remove them from the fridge about an hour before you plan to mix your cake.
- Don’t Overmix. Once you add the flour be sure you only mix long enough to bring the ingredients together. Too much mixing may result in a dense and tough cake.
Popular Substitutions & Additions
- Swap the maple syrup. If you don’t have maple syrup for the glaze you can use a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead.
- Buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk you can make your own. Place a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup, then add milk up to the one-cup line. Let it sit for about five minutes.
- Swap the vanilla glaze. This gingerbread cake will also taste amazing with a cream cheese glaze or even a caramel glaze. Another option is to dust it with powdered sugar for a slightly less sweet version of the cake.
- Add some nuts. Chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans can add a crunchy texture and nutty flavor to your gingerbread cake.
- Chocolate chips. For a decadent twist add dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks to your gingerbread batter.
What to Serve with Gingerbread Bundt Cake
- Gingerbread pound cake is perfect for the winter holidays. And honestly you could just curl up on the couch and devour it by yourself. But to share this showstopper, serve at the end of Christmas dinner or any holiday dinner parties you have planned. It’s perfect after your turkey and turkey gravy or honey glazed ham dinner!
- Serve it with your favorite holiday beverage like this a sugar cookie martini, Christmas punch, or homemade eggnog.
- For extra indulgence, add a scoop of cookie butter ice cream or homemade whipped cream.
How to Store Gingerbread Cake
Make sure the cake is at room temperature and then wrap it tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil to seal the cake. Store the cake in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight. It’s best eaten within 3-4 days.
You can store the cake glazed or not using any of these methods but the cake with a glaze may get a little sticky in storage.
How long will gingerbread cake last in the fridge?
To enjoy your gingerbread cake a little bit longer store it in the fridge. If possible, place it in an airtight cake container and store it for up to a week. When you’re ready to enjoy, allow it to reach room temperature before serving.
Can I freeze gingerbread bundt cake?
Yep you sure can boo! Wrap the fully cooled cake in plastic and foil and freeze it for up to three months. Allow the cake to thaw in the fridge overnight, then bring it to room temperature before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Certainly! Everyone may have a different preference for the various spices when it comes to gingerbread. Feel free to adjust them however you prefer to achieve the flavor you enjoy for your gingerbread.
Use the timing in the recipe as a guideline. The cake will become more fragrant as it gets closer to being done so you may notice the aroma in your kitchen intensify. Check the top of the cake it should appear done and if you press a finger your finger the cake should spring back. Since this is a pretty dense cake, I always recommend a final check using a toothpick. Insert it in several spots, it will come clean or with a few crumbs when the cake is done.
A bundt cake is meant to be served with the top of the cake face down and the curved edges upwards. So yes, in a way you will need to flip it. After cooling the cake in the pan for ten minutes, place a wire rack or serving plate upside down on the top of the pan. Then hold the edges of the plate or rack and the cake pan at the same time, and flip. Now your cake should be sitting on the plate or rack. Gently lift off the cake pan. You may need to tap or shake the pan gently if the cake doesn’t release right away.
More Gingerbread Recipes
Gingerbread Cake Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Pound Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup buttermilk room temp
- 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
For the Glaze
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tbsp milk
- raspberries sugared, optional for garnish
- fresh mint leaves optional for garnish
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with non-stick baking spray or grease with shortening/butter and flour and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add together butter, both sugars and molasses and beat on high speed until light and fluffy for about 5 minutes.
- Next, add in eggs one at a time and mix until well incorporated.
- Slow mixer to lowest speed and carefully add flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice, and cloves in increments and mix until well combined.
- Lastly mix in buttermilk and vanilla until smooth.
- Pour cake batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert cake into cooling rack or serving plate, cool until room temperature, then prepare glaze.
For the Glaze
- Once cake is completely cooled, whisk together confectioner’s sugar, maple syrup and milk. Add more milk or syrup if needed. Glaze should be pourable but not too thin.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled cake. Garnish with sugared cranberries and mint if desired.
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This was everything a gourmet dessert should be, and then some! Turned out! easy and delicious; exactly what I needed to cure my sweet tooth!
This cake is as stunning as it is delicious! It’s the perfect centerpiece for our holiday dessert table.
I love ginger bread flavor. It’s a nice transition away from pumpkin spice everything. Thanks!
This Gingerbread Bundt cake is a burst of all the spice flavors. The Glaze and the decorative topping makes this cake looks super delicious. Presentation Picture perfect.
I do not live in a high altitude, but the gingerbread bundt cake sunk in the middle. I won’t know what condition the center is in until tomorrow when I cut it. What would cause this? Would you suggest that I follow the “high altitude” suggestions given by a previous comment?
Hi Joyce, sorry to hear that it sunk. Did you rest it upside down?
Hi getting ready to make the Gingerbread spice cake. I want to add pumpkin purée, what would I need to substitute if anything? Thank you!
Hi Beatrice, did you make it? I am really not sure as the pumpkin puree adds moisture and I haven’t tested this recipe with it.
My family loves this cake! We live in Denver and my first few tries at altitude adjustments failed, but today I got it baked without sinking into itself, so sharing these altitude tips: I reduced each sugar and the molasses to 3/4 cup, upped the flour from 3 cups to 4 cups, and increased the buttermilk to 1 1/2 cups. Plus added a 1/4 cup water. The cake baked up beautifully and did not sink after taking out of the oven!
i like it.
This is the best gingerbread cake I’ve ever tasted, thanks for sharing!
can I sub kefir or yogurt for the buttermilk?
You can make your own buttermilk if you have some whole milk at all.