If you love snack cakes, this easy, festive ginger cake will be your next one-bowl favorite. This homemade gingerbread is judiciously spiced with ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice with just enough molasses to give the pillowy confection its telltale holiday aroma. This easy gingerbread recipe produces a soft, ultra-moist snacking cake and only needs a dusting of powdered sugar for garnish (but a dollop of fresh whipped cream or scoop of vanilla would be really good too).
Leading up to the holidays, everyone wants a little taste of something to “get them in the mood” and for me, that’s homemade gingerbread. Not the “involved” type that has you making and rolling dough, cutting out shapes and then decorating. No, that’s not my baking style. I want a quick and easy gingerbread recipe. A snacking cake that doesn’t require any handholding. The kind of cake where you lop off a slice, and then go back for just another little nibble five minutes later. This is it.
Table of Contents
Easy Gingerbread Recipe Ingredients
- Light Brown Sugar
- Molasses
- Maple Syrup
- Butter
- Vegetable Oil
- Eggs
- Flour
- Baking Soda
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Cinnamon
- Salt
- Ground Allspice
- Ground Cloves
- Boiling Water
- Cranberries
Sidebar: I know cranberries aren’t usually found in ginger cake and I’m not going to force you to put them in, but if you like jammy pockets of fruit in your snack cakes, fresh cranberries are my pick. They will float to the top of this easy gingerbread recipe and add wrinkly pops of red over the dome of the snacking cake.
Assembling Homemade Gingerbread Snacking Cake
- Use a hand mixer to combine the brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, melted butter, vegetable oil and eggs in a large bowl.
- Stir in the spices and dry ingredients with a spatula until well mixed.
- Add the boiling water and stir to combine.
- Lightly dust the fresh cranberries with flour and stir them into the batter.
- Pour the ginger cake batter into a prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
What did I tell you? Easy. No, SUPER-EASY!
This spiced snacking cake fills your whole house with those welcome holiday aromas as it bakes. #DoesntSuck.
Honestly, this dessert doesn’t need any embellishment. I literally carved out a wedge of the homemade gingerbread 5 minutes after it came out of the oven and shoved it unceremoniously into my mouth…. You can do the same thing (I won’t judge). However, if you want to gild the lily (you know, for your neighbors or a hoity toity mother-in-law) these are my suggestions…
What To Serve With Ginger Cake
- Powdered Sugar (its reminiscent of falling snow and reinforces that holiday mystique.) I would add the powdered sugar to each piece as its being served, because this cake is so moist, the sugar will “disappear” into the crumb if it sits too long.
- Fresh whipped cream – you can do plain whipped cream (no sugar or anything), but to me, adding a spoonful of powdered sugar and a tablespoon or two of brandy whipped into pillowy dollops is a thing of beauty on this easy gingerbread recipe.
- Ice Cream – plain vanilla will do the trick, but other faves include butter almond, cinnamon, egg nog and/or rum raisin.
- Creme Anglaise – Ok, this is a bit fancier, but a drizzle of this rich, eggy custard over a thick slice of ginger cake is swoon-worthy.
- Sugared Cranberries – to highlight the cranberries that are baked into the batter, whisk an egg white until frothy and add a handful of cranberries. Use tongs or a fork to transfer the tacky fruit to a bowl of superfine sugar. Transfer the sugared berries to a mesh rack to dry and then stack them in a pile in the center of the ginger cake.
The Cranberry Conundrum
The only “d’oh” moment I had with the ginger cake was slicing it… because of the cranberries. Despite my sharpest knife, the sliced cake didn’t come out in neat little squares as I’d anticipated. The homemade gingerbread snacking cake is soft and delicate and I found that the cranberries didn’t yield as easily as I’d hoped, leaving divots and depressions instead of a perfect square. This is the problem with food blogging — you want it to look just so, but since I’m also eating the recipe, I like to add in my faves… ah, well. So, you can add cranberries — or not. I’ll leave it to you to decide.
More Homemade Gingerbread Recipes:
- Gingerbread Coffee Creamer via Dawn at Girl Heart Food
- Gingerbread Gin and Tonic from Leah and Jay at The Gastronom Blog
- Homemade Gingerbread with Fresh Ginger via Trish at Rhubarbarians
- Gingerbread Latte Recipe by Melissa at My Wife Can Cook
More Easy Snack Cakes
Soft Gingerbread Snack Cake with Cranberries
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons light brown sugar packed (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- ¼ cup real maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup boiling water
- ¾ cup cranberries lightly dusted in flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray an 8 x 8" glass baking dish with vegetable spray. Cut a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of the pan and insert it. Spray the parchment with vegetable spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, melted butter, vegetable oil and egg. Use a hand mixer to blend until very smooth.
- Add the ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt, baking soda and flour. Whisk until just combined.
- Carefully stir in the boiling water… go slowly at first so it doesn't splash out of the bowl. Mix until batter is smooth.
- Add the cranberries and gently stir them into the batter. Transfer the gingerbread mix to the prepared baking dish and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition
Pin Homemade Gingerbread Snacking Cake For Later!
This was absolutely delicious and so easy to make!
Delicious and flavorful and would love to grab with my Tea. Amazing snack box option too.
I love to have sheet cakes and loaves on hand this time of year for when friends pop by and this was perfect! Goes so good with a cup of tea!
What a wonderful, flavorful cake! Perfect for all holiday parties and snack times!
I am all about all the gingerbread recipes at the moment and this looks delicious.