Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This easy, flavorful and moist one-layer Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting makes the perfect dessert for Christmas time and the holiday season.

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This Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is amazing! I love everything about it. It's easy to make, incredibly moist and tender, and the spices make it so flavorful. I look forward to making this cake at least once every December. It's really the perfect treat for the holidays.

This simple gingerbread snack cake is delicious on its own but topping it with a tangy cream cheese frosting and a bit of chopped crystallized ginger takes it to another level and makes it extra festive!

How to Make

The gingerbread cake portion of this dessert is adapted from this Fine Cooking gingerbread recipe. Rather than use plain water as they do, I opted for chai tea since the spices in the tea are a perfect match for the spices in the cake.

This cake comes together easily, but if you don't have enough time to bake the cake and make the frosting on the same day, you can bake the cake on one day, and make the frosting and frost it the next day. Simply cover the cake and leave it at room temperature until ready to frost.

Ingredients Overview:

• All-purpose flour. If you like, you can also use a combination of all purpose and whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe.
• Ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves
• Baking soda and salt
• Unsalted butter 
• Molasses and brown sugar are used to sweeten the cake
• Egg
• Chai tea. Can also use boiled water or brewed coffee instead of tea.

Steps Overview:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F and place rack in the centre of the oven. Slightly butter an 8x8-inch cake pan and line it with parchment paper leaving an overhang on two opposite sides, this will make it easier to lift the cake out. Butter the paper slightly.
2. In a glass measuring cup, combine 3/4 cup of boiling water with 1 chai tea bag, set aside to steep.
3. Into a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth, light and fluffy.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg. Beat until well combined.
6. Keep beating while slowly adding the molasses.
7. Add in half of the dry ingredients and mix just until well combined.
8. Scrape down the sides of your bowl again and then add the remaining dry ingredients.
9. Slowly add the chai tea and stir until well combined.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, this will take about 30 to 35 minutes.
11. Remove the cake from the oven and let the cake cool on a rack for about 10 minutes before lifting the paper and cake out of pan to continue cooling on rack.
12. Once the cake has cooled remove the parchment paper and place the cake on a serving dish.

Tip: To easily get the molasses out of the measuring cup, rub a drop of oil in your measuring cup before filing it with molasses, the molasses will slide right down the measuring cup.

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

Though you don't need to frost this cake since it is delicious even without frosting, I like to ice it with a cream cheese frosting. To add even more ginger flavour, I sprinkle chopped crystallized ginger onto the frosted cake, it's entirely optional, but I find it delicious.

Ingredients needed:

• Brick-style cream cheese.
• Lemon zest and juice
• Pure vanilla extract
• Icing sugar
• Crystallized ginger for garnish (optional)

Steps:

1. In the bowl of your mixer, on medium-high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, beat for 1 more minute.
3. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add one cup of icing sugar at a time until you have the desired consistency, I used 2-1/2 cups of icing sugar.
4. Frost the cooled cake and if desired top it with the chopped crystallized ginger.

How to Serve

Serve this cake with or without frosting with a cup of tea or coffee. I like to serve it for dessert, but it's also great to serve at brunches during the holiday season.

How to Store

Store leftover frosted gingerbread cake in the refrigerator. It will keep up to a week, if you can resist it for that long!

How to Freeze

The cake can also be frozen without the frosting. Simply wrap the cake in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil and freeze for up to three months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator. If desired, frost the cake once it has thawed.

More Gingerbread Recipes

If you love gingerbread recipes as much as I do, you might also want to try these Gingerbread Muffins, they're perfect for breakfast or to serve at a Christmas brunch. And if you're looking for a stunning holiday dessert this Espresso Gingerbread Bundt Cake is simply amazing!

Enjoy!

More Christmas and Holiday Season Recipes

• Chewy Ginger Cookies
• Pistachio and Cranberry Biscotti
• Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
• Plum Upside-Down Cake
• Date and Walnut Cake

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