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This soft gingerbread cake recipe features a blend of warm spices, molasses for richness, apple to keep it moist, and a 5-minute velvety cream cheese frosting. It’s an easy 1-bowl cake, and it’s sure to be a hit at your next Christmas gathering!
One day last summer, I woke up with visions of Christmas cake in my head. Yes, that might seem ridiculously out of season, but I had been working on festive recipes for a couple weeks prior. Such is the life of a food blogger; at my house, it’s not uncommon to have our first Thanksgiving dinner of the year in July, lol!
But back to the cake. Here’s what I was envisioning. A moist, tender crumb that’s deeply aromatic with warm gingerbread spices. Rich caramel notes from molasses, and shredded apple to lighten it a bit and help create a soft texture. A cake that beautifully walks the line between decadent and ethereal, and will keep you coming back for just a little bit more in the best way possible.
Multiple rounds of testing later, I give you my best spice cake featuring the flavors of both gingerbread cake and apple spice cake all rolled into one.
What Spices Are in Spice Cake?
Classic spice cakes usually contain warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and sometimes allspice. Cardamom isn’t as popular, but you’ll also find occasional recipes that call for it. And here’s a wildcard spice for you; traditional gingerbread has historically contained black pepper! It enhances the spice blend, rounding it out with its piquancy. If you want to add black pepper to this cake, I would go with about 1/4 teaspoon and see how you like it.
What Makes This Cake Recipe a Winner
- It’s an easy one-bowl cake. Everything gets mixed one bowl by hand! There’s no fussing with the stand mixer and no need to dirty extra dishes. If you’re looking for an easy Christmas cake recipe, this one is perfect.
- Soft, moist, tender crumb. It’s lush, lovelies! Through multiple rounds of testing I (finally) got this cake to the point where it’s just the right balance between moist (but not dense) and tender.
- Rich spiced flavor. The warm spice blend paired with molasses and brown sugar is as aromatic as it is flavorful – and so festive!
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
Gingerbread Spice Cake Ingredients With Apple
- Oil – In this cake we use oil instead of butter to help create a soft, tender, fluffy crumb. Use a mild or neutral-flavored oil, such as light olive oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil, etc.
- Light brown sugar – Adds sweetness with rich notes of caramel and molasses. Brown sugar also helps keep the cake deliciously moist.
- Granulated white sugar – Instead of using all brown sugar, we also use some granulated white sugar.
- Molasses – A key ingredient in traditional gingerbread, molasses adds rich flavor notes and also helps create a tender crumb and keeps the cake moister for longer. Additionally, molasses is acidic and helps activate baking soda, which is one of the leavening agents in this cake.
- Eggs – Eggs are a binder and help create lift, contributing to the perfect fluffy, moist cake texture.
- Peeled and shredded sweet/tart apple – The apple not only adds another layer of flavor, but also helps create a tender crumb and keep the cake moist. I use Honeycrisp apple in this recipe, but you can use a similar sweet/tart apple with a crisp texture that’s available locally. You’ll need around 230 grams, which is about 1 packed cup of peeled, shredded apple.
- Pure vanilla extract – Vanilla adds to the flavor and aroma’s complexity. But to be honest, this is one recipe where if you skip the vanilla you likely won’t notice. The rich notes of molasses, brown sugar, and warm spices are predominant here!
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder – The main leavening agent.
- Salt – To enhance the flavor of everything else, and to balance the sweetness.
- Baking soda – Our secondary leavening agent.
- Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves – This is our spice blend for this cake. Fair warning, I prefer gingerbread-type cakes like this to be richly spiced, especially when they’re frosted (because the frosting mellows out the spicy flavor). Additionally, I developed this recipe with this spice level to work well with the amounts of sweeteners (brown sugar, white sugar, and molasses) listed. If you want your cake a little less well-spiced, you can cut all the spice amounts in half, but know that your cake will be on the sweet side. Or if you’re sensitive to cloves, which a few people have mentioned to me that they are, you can reduce the amount to 1/4 teaspoon.
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – For rich flavor. You want the butter on the soft side of room temperature, but not melted.
- Cream cheese – For creamy texture and decadent flavor with a subtle tang. Just like the butter, here you want the cream cheese on the soft side of room temperature, but not melted.
- Pure vanilla extract – Contributes flavor and aroma.
- Salt – For balance.
- Powdered sugar – Adds sweetness and creates structure in this quick frosting.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the Ginger Spice Cake
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
- Make the cake batter. Add the oil, sugars, molasses, shredded apple, and vanilla to a large bowl, and whisk until well-combined. Sift in the four, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices. Stir just until combined, being careful not to over-mix.
- Bake and cool the cake. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 50 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan, and then carefully invert it onto a cake rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes more.
Step 2: Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
Add all ingredients to a large bowl. Use a handheld electric beater to mix until smooth and creamy. (TIP: If your butter or cream cheese was at all melted, you’ll need to chill the frosting just until it’s not so runny, and then beat it again before frosting the cake.)
Step 3: Frost the Cake
Spread the frosting evenly on top of the cake (and on the sides if desired). Decorate the top with sugared rosemary, sugared cranberries, candied ginger, sanding sugar, or any festive decorations you like. (TIP: You can eat this cake today, but like many kinds of gingerbread and spice cakes, this is even more delicious the next day after the spices have blended.)
Storage Tips
If you use the cream cheese frosting on this cake, store leftovers wrapped well in the fridge for up to 5 to 7 days. If you don’t frost the cake (or use a glaze or a frosting without cream cheese), you can store it wrapped well at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Variations
- Add nuts – Fold up to 1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans (or your favorite kind of nuts) into the batter.
- Omit the apple – And use the same amount of lightly drained canned crushed pineapple instead (press out all but a tablespoon or two of the liquid).
- Skip the frosting – This cake is moist and rich enough without it! I added a cream cheese frosting because I wanted to be able to make it extra festive by decorating the top with sugared rosemary and candied ginger. However, this cake is still absolutely lush without frosting. Another option is to make a simple glaze instead with 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 2 to 3 teaspoons of milk or water.
Tips For the Best Moist Gingerbread Cake Recipe
- Don’t worry about your apple browning a little. When I’m baking, I like to set up my mis en place so that all the ingredients are waiting for me. By the time everything is measured and ready to go for this cake, the apples are typically starting to brown! You can put the shredded apple in a bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap, which will help slow oxidation a little. (Also, acidic ingredients like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar will slow apple’s oxidation, but doing all that isn’t really necessary for this simple recipe.) I promise, it’s not a big deal if the apple starts to brown a bit (the cake is a beautiful rich brown color anyway!). I recommend prepping the apple as the last ingredient and then making the cake batter immediately.
- I usually make this cake batter by hand. You can use a stand mixer or electric beater if you like, but this cake is simple to make by hand! And I find it’s a lot easier to prevent over-mixing if I mix it by hand.
- The toothpick test for doneness works here, but not in the way you might think. We aren’t baking the cake until a toothpick comes out dry. Instead, bake it until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs (otherwise your cake will be dry!).
Frequently Asked Questions
There are a few tips and tricks to help make sure your gingerbread cake is soft and moist:
1. Ingredients matter. Here we use oil, brown sugar, molasses, and shredded apple to help create a soft, tender, moist crumb.
2. Don’t over-mix the batter. It overworks the gluten in the flour and can lead to a tough cake.
3. Be sure not to over-bake the cake. Here we bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Don’t bake it until the toothpick comes out dry or your cake will be dry!
Molasses (a classic ingredient in gingerbread and ginger cakes!) performs a few important functions in this cake:
1. Color. It helps create deep color.
2. Flavor. Molasses lends sweet, slightly smoky, subtly bitter well-rounded flavor notes reminiscent of rich caramel.
3. Texture. Molasses is hygroscopic, which means it attracts and holds moisture, making this cake taste fresher for longer.
4. Rise. Because molasses is acidic, in this recipe it activates the baking soda, which is a leavening agent in this cake.
If you’re wondering what’s the best frosting for spice cake, there are a few different types of frosting that pair beautifully.
Cream cheese frosting, with its rich, subtly tangy flavor and velvety-smooth mouthfeel, is a classic choice for many different types of spice cakes (including carrot cake), and it’s what we use for this ginger spice cake. You could also go with vanilla buttercream, brown butter frosting, maple frosting, or a simple glaze.
Alternatively, instead of frosting the cake, you can just serve each piece topped with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar.
For this cake, use a sweet-tart, firm, crisp apple that holds its shape well when baked. My go-to apple for this cake is Honeycrisp.
More Spiced Gingerbread Christmas Desserts to Try
- Gingerbread Caramels (Soft & Chewy)
- Basler Läckerli (Swiss Gingerbread Bars)
- Gingerbread Pie (With Biscoff Cookie Butter)
- Gingerbread Brownies with Eggnog Buttercream
Let’s Connect
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Gingerbread Spice Cake Recipe With Apple and Cream Cheese Frosting
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Equipment
Ingredients
Ginger Spice Cake Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil use a mild or neutral-flavored oil, such as light olive oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil, etc.
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup peeled and shredded sweet/tart apple packed (such as Honeycrisp; about 230 grams shredded)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (see Notes)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger (see Notes)
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice (see Notes)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (see Notes)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves reduce to 1/4 teaspoon if you find cloves a bit strong (see Notes)
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter on the soft side of room temperature (not melted)
- 4 ounces cream cheese on the soft side of room temperature (not melted)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/16 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Ginger Spice Cake:
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
- Make the cake batter. Add the oil, sugars, molasses, shredded apple, and vanilla to a large bowl, and whisk until well-combined. Sift in the four, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices. Stir just until combined, being careful not to over-mix.
- Bake and cool the cake. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 50 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan, and then carefully invert it onto a cake rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes more.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Add all ingredients to a large bowl. Use a handheld electric beater to mix until smooth and creamy. (TIP: If your butter or cream cheese was at all melted, you'll need to chill the frosting just until it's not so runny, and then beat it again before frosting the cake.)
To Finish:
- Spread the frosting evenly on top of the cake (and on the sides if desired). Decorate the top with sugared rosemary, sugared cranberries, candied ginger, sanding sugar, or any festive decorations you like. (TIP: You can eat this cake today, but like many kinds of gingerbread and spice cakes, this is even more delicious the next day after the spices have blended.)
Video
Notes
- Spices: Fair warning, I prefer gingerbread-type cakes like this to be richly spiced, especially when they’re frosted (because the frosting mellows out the spicy flavor). Additionally, I developed this recipe with this spice level to work well with the amounts of sweeteners (brown sugar, white sugar, and molasses) listed. If you want your cake a little less well-spiced, you can cut all the spice amounts in half, but know that your cake will be on the sweet side. Or if you’re sensitive to cloves, which a few people have mentioned to me that they are, you can reduce the amount to 1/4 teaspoon.
- Decorating the Top: To make it extra festive, you can decorate the top with sugared rosemary, sugared cranberries, candied ginger, sanding sugar, or any festive decorations you like.
- Storage: If you use the cream cheese frosting on this cake, store leftovers wrapped well in the fridge for up to 5 to 7 days. If you don’t frost the cake (or use a glaze or a frosting without cream cheese), you can store it wrapped well at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Recipe Yield and Serving Size: If you frost the cake with cream cheese frosting, I recommend cutting this into 12 servings because the frosting makes it quite rich. If you don’t frost the cake, I’d suggest cutting it into 8 or 10 slightly larger servings.
- Nutrition Information: The nutritional information includes both the cake and the frosting and was calculated based on this recipe making 12 servings.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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