Julie Clark
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Glorified Gingerbread Cake
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A warm piece of this simple Glorified Gingerbread Cake will be ready to eat in just an hour. Serve it with a dollop of whip cream on top for a light, festive dessert.
I’ll be 100% honest. I don’t want to wait. I’m ready for the Christmas season to officially begin! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, but it is the gateway to the holiday season in general. And it can’t come soon enough.
When we bake holiday treats, we go all out. Think gingerbread cheesecake and gingerbread pancakes. Between us and all of our other family members, we end up not only having a Christmas feast, but a dessert feast as well. This year, we’re adding yet another special treat to make for Christmas. Glorified Gingerbread Cake.
Why you’ll love this cake:
- Mixes up in only 10 minutes.
- Delicious molasses gingerbread flavor.
- Part of the cake mix becomes the streusel topping. No extra mixing!
- Makes a small 8×8 cake.
What is Glorified Gingerbread Cake?
This recipe comes from my favorite old Mennonite Community Cookbook. If you’re looking for a gift for a loved one who likes traditional comfort food, this book is it!
In the book it is called “Glorified” gingerbread cake? So what does that mean? I think it just means it is really, really good. Like heavenly good. Sometimes as I tweak vintage recipes I rename them to something people are actually searching for, but this needed to keep it’s glorified name.
How to Make Gingerbread Cake
This cake is fun because you mix together the dry ingredients, then take out ½ a cup of those dry crumbs to sprinkle on the top of the batter, which makes a sugary streusel topping. I had never met a cake like this before.
- Prepare. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper. This isn’t 100% necessary, but we like to easily pull the cake out of the pan and this is the way to do it. If you don’t have parchment paper, just spray the pan with cooking spray.
- Mix the crumbs. In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, ginger and cinnamon. Cut in the butter and mix into the dry ingredients to make fine crumbs. Take out ½ cup crumbs and set them aside so you can sprinkle them on top of the cake batter.
- Add the other ingredients. To the remaining crumbs, add the egg, molasses, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. Mix until the ingredients are well blended.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
This cake ends up looking a little different every time I make it (see this cake on our cake site here). I am normally a “center of the cake” kind of girl when I cut myself a piece of cake. But with this cake, I loved the edge pieces. Some of the streusel bakes down along the sides. Double the streusel in one piece of cake. Heaven.
How to Store Gingerbread Cake
This cake is safe to store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
It also freezes well for 2 months. When you are ready to eat the frozen cake, allow it to fully defrost without opening the container. This will prevent it from drying out.
Recipe Variations:
- Double the recipe for a 9×13 version.
- Add mini chocolate chips. Chocolate and gingerbread is so good together!
- Add pecans or walnuts or even hazelnuts.
Glorified Gingerbread Cake
A warm piece of this simple Glorified Gingerbread Cake will be ready to eat in just an hour. Serve it with a dollop of whip cream on top for a light, festive dessert.
Servings 9
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large egg (beaten)
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, ginger and cinnamon. Cut in the butter and mix into the dry ingredients to make fine crumbs. Take out ½ cup crumbs and set them aside so you can sprinkle them on top of the cake batter.
- To the remaining crumbs, add the egg, molasses, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. Mix until the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into a parchment paper lined 8×8 pan.
- Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top of the batter.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Video
Notes
The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 9 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.
Recipe Source: Mennonite Community Cookbook
Nutrition
Calories: 440kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 460mg | Potassium: 339mg | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 680IU | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 2.4mg
We usually use brown sugar since the smell of molasses tends to linger
This is an unusual gingerbread. It looks very tasty though. In your video you say take out a cup of the crumbs for the topping. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup. Also you mention cold butter but it looks like frozen butter when you are cutting it.
Can you provide instructions…meaning measurements 9”x 13” for larger Glorified Gingerbread Cake…as needs more servings for family and other types of gatherings.
Did I miss what size pan? I’m guessing probably8″square?
Yum-o! Gingerbread cake sounds so heartwarming. I’ve been listening to Christmas music since months ago, too but we’re still shopping around for Christmas tree. Hopefully we’ll get it soon so we can enjoy it longer. Meanwhile, I’ll have a piece of this cake with my black tea.