This easy Gingerbread Cake recipe is topped with homemade vanilla cream sauce, bananas, and whipped cream. It could be my favorite holiday cake ever!
Do you love gingerbread? Try our Gingerbread Waffles, Ginger Molasses Cookies, Build a Gingerbread House, or make Gingerbread Cookies!
Why I love this cake:
- Light – The texture of this easy gingerbread cake is perfectly light, fluffy, and moist. Plus, your house will smell of freshly baked gingerbread.
- The Toppings – You must add a drizzle of the vanilla cream sauce, with sliced bananas and whipped cream, to get the full experience!
- Family Favorite – My mom shared this recipe with me from one of her best friends (thanks Kristen!) and its been a highlight of our season ever since.
How to make Gingerbread Cake:
Mix Wet Ingredients: Cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the eggs and molasses then mix well.
Stir Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Combine the wet and dry ingredients then slowly pour in the hot water and stir until smooth.
Bake: Pour batter into a 9”x 13” pan. Bake gingerbread cake for 20-35 minutes.
Serve: This classic gingerbread cake recipe is delicious by itself (and totally acceptable to eat it as a stand-alone), but I just can't resist the combination of fresh bananas, whipped cream, and the most amazing warm vanilla cream sauce drizzled on top. It's outstanding!
Make Ahead, Storage, and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The vanilla cream sauce can be made a few days in advance, stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Rewarm before serving.
To Store: The ginger cake recipe keeps well at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for about a week.
To Freeze: Wrap the gingerbread cake in plastic wrap then aluminum foil, and place in a freezer safe bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw overnight at room temperature before serving. If you'd like it warm, heat it in the microwave for a few seconds.
More Christmas Treats:
- Peppermint Brownies
- Chocolate Fudge
- Homemade Caramels
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake
- Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- Super Soft Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
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Recipe
Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 large egg , beaten
- 1 cup unsulphered molasses
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup very hot water
- bananas for topping
- fresh whipped cream , for topping
Vanilla Cream Sauce:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13” pan with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar and butter until smooth and light.
- Add the egg and molasses then mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir to combine. Slowly pour in the hot water and stir until smooth (batter will be thin).
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Serve warm, topped with fresh sliced bananas, whipped cream, and vanilla cream sauce.
For the Vanilla Cream Sauce:
- Add sugar, butter and cream to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter has melted.
- Bring mixture to a boil then boil, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving over cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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*I originally shared this recipe November 2015. Updated December 2018 and December 2023.
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Every holiday I try to surprise my group of friends with a special baked treat and came across this recipe. I was hesitant to try it but so glad I did. It was a huge hit and will definitely make it again the in future
Made a few adjustments after reading reviews: substituted granulated for dark brown sugar, did 1/2c molasses and 1/2c honey instead of full cup molasses, and 2 tbsp ground ginger instead of 1 tsp (per Mary Berry’s ginger cake recipe). Also did 2 and 1/8c flour instead of 2 and 1/4. Cake came out moist, perfectly sweet, and full of warm ginger spice.
Delicious. Our family of five polished it off in two days.
Topped with butter icing and crushed candy cane. Yummy.
The molasses is overpowering and it doesn’t taste like gingerbread at all. It’s an easy recipe to make but the taste is yucky.
This cake was awesome! I ended up putting cream cheese frosting and festive sprinkles on top and everyone loved it! Very moist.
I read the reviews about this gingerbread cake and was a little hesitant to try it because some reviewers said it was dry or dense or didn’t have enough spice. This cake was absolutely scrumptious! I didn’t change a thing and this recipe is going in my book. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe!!
Dense and disgusting. I will have to bake something else now for Christmas dessert. I followed the recipe and it is not under or over baked but it is unsuitable for Christmas dinner or any other. Strong molasses taste. Not sweet. How disappointing
Perfect. This cake is moist. Perhaps the people who thought it was dry over baked it? Keeping this recipe for next Christmas.
We tried it plain, without the vanilla sauce, bananas and whipped cream, and it was a little dry. The flavor was perfect, and had we done the last step, I would have rated it a 5.
Yummmm, oh wow this is amazing, so tasty. Easy to make and smells double delicious!