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Gingerbread cake with dried oranges, sugared cranberries, star anise and sugared rosemary.

Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Author Kristen | Ella Claire & Co.

Ingredients

GINGERBREAD CAKE

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1 T ground ginger
  • 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2/3 cup salted butter softened
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 large eggs

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter room temp
  • 8 oz. (1 block) cream cheese room temp
  • 8 cups powdered sugar
  • 7 T whole milk
  • 2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, spices, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. In separate bowl, blend molasses, oil and boiling water and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy- 1-2 minutes. Add sugars and mix well. Add eggs one at a time. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the wet molasses mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and mix until ingredients are well combined. Pour cake batter into three 8″ greased and floured cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (or with just a few crumbles on it).

  2. For cream cheese frosting, whip butter and cream cheese together in mixer until smooth. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk until well combined and nice and creamy. Add vanilla.
  3. To assemble cake, place first layer on a cake stand. There is no need to cut the tops of your cake layers to create a flat surface. The cake itself is more on the dense side, so the cakes are flatter already and are perfect for the rustic cake we are making. Add a big dollop of frosting on the first layer of cake and be sure to spread it out to the edges. Place the second layer on top of the frosted first layer and repeat until all layers are on the cake. Dump a generous amount of frosting on the top of the cake and spread it in a circular motion toward the edge of the cake. Garnish as desired.