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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
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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*I originally shared this recipe November 2015. Updated December 2018 and December 2023.
I attempted this recipe today, and I’m sorry to say it was awful. I trust some people have had some success with the recipe but I personally found the molasses overpowered everything and there wasn’t much flavour in the cake. The baking time wasn’t accurate either.
The cake was good I liked the texture but the molasses was WAY overpowering for me. If I make it again I’ll probably put half of the amount of molasses and another half cup of maybe maple syrup for the moisture. But this was so overpowering with molasses that you couldn’t taste any of the other spices.
I finally found a Gingerbread Cake Recipe that’s just like my mom used to bake. It’s the best…and a beautiful texture. I also added a full tsp of fresh ginger. Thanks Lauren for such a good recipe.
I used 2 3/4 cup of cake flour instead of 21/2 cups all purpose. It was moist and delicious! The vanilla sauce is like melted caramels! So delicious over the cake. I just poured it over by the slice. Thank you for posting!
Made this tonight. Relatively easy to put together. Baked it for 35 mins and toothpick inserted came out completely clean. It looked and felt like a totally normal gingerbread, but I was so surprised when I took the first bite. Even though it was light and fluffy and totally cooked, the minute it hit my mouth it collapsed and got very gummy and sticky in consistency. I’ve made a lot of gingerbread in the past 60+ years and never had this happen before. It was just so strange. The flavor was good, but I didn’t enjoy the consistency at all.
Have any suggestions for this cake baked in a Bundt pan? Time , temperature, or is it NOT advised?
I haven’t tested that in a bundt pan. For a 12 cup standard bundt pan I think it would work. I would use the same temp, keep and eye on it and it will take quite a bit longer to cook.
horrible… flat .. never again.. flavor good
This was absolutely amazing. We loved it with the Creme Anglais!!
Everyone who has tried this dessert so far can’t believe how good it tastes. Some guests had multiple servings & requested the recipe straight away. Another told me: I had no idea what was happening in my mouth – the cake, the banana, the cream, the vanilla sauce… Suffice it to say, everyone found it more than delicious. Thank you so much for this incredible recipe.
This cake is delicious! The proportions of molasses to spices is perfect as you have it. Just enough sweetness & spiciness without being too much. I had a question though. I only used 1/2 cup of water and the cake turned out fine. How would a full cup of hot water have affected the texture or taste of the cake? Thank you for this wonderful recipe! It was a wonderful dessert for Christmas!!
Loved it!Light, tasty, scrumptious! Made capcakes=12 minutes. The very small bread loaf I made might have been filled too high-it took a **long** time to bake.30 minutes at 350 degrees, and lowered the temp to 300 and baked it another 25 minutes.