Moist Gingerbread Cake
A small, easy gingerbread snacking cake, deeply spiced with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It's incredibly moist and beautiful with fluffy gingerbread buttercream, though I usually prefer it plain. The flavor is good enough to stand on its own.
Servings: 9 Slices
Cost: $15
Equipment
- 8x8 or 9x9 square cake pan
- Electric Mixer
- mixing bowls
- Parchment Paper
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (12 tbsp)
- 1/2 cup molasses unsulphured
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare an 8x8 or 9x9 cake pan, either size will work. Grease the bottom and sides with butter and cut a piece of parchment paper to lay inside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar and eggs for at least 3 minutes.
- Add in the buttermilk, molasses, softened butter, and vanilla extract.
- Beat for 5 minutes until all of the ingredients are combined and the mixture looks lighter and fluffier. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Combine the flour, ground spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add in the dry ingredients.
- Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and, using a spatula, fold it all together.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes, checking at 25 minutes. A toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the cake cool and then add a fluffy layer of gingerbread frosting over the top, or leave it without and it's just as good!
Notes
Room temperature matters. Set the butter and buttermilk out together before you start. Cold buttermilk hitting soft butter makes it seize into little lumps that never fully beat out.
Use unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap. Blackstrap is bitter and will make the cake taste medicinal. Grandma's is what I use. If blackstrap is all you have, cut it half and half with honey.
Measure your flour by spooning it into the cup and leveling the top. Scooping straight into the bag packs in too much flour, and it's the main reason a cake comes out dry.
The five minutes matter. Beating the wet ingredients the full five minutes is what makes this fluffy instead of dense.
Pan sizes. This makes one 8x8 or 9x9 square cake. For a loaf, bake 45 to 55 minutes. For cupcakes, fill liners two thirds full and bake 18 to 20 minutes. Double the recipe for a 9x13 sheet cake, or for two 8-inch or 9-inch rounds baked 28 to 32 minutes.
Make ahead. Bake a day early and it's even better. Store covered at room temperature 3 to 4 days, or freeze unfrosted up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 342kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 363mg | Potassium: 428mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 556IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 2mg
