Celebrate the holidays with this gingerbread layer cake.It’s made with thin layers of gingerbread cake stacked with maple whipped cream frosting and garnished with cinnamon sugar almonds.
I dream about cakes.
Chocolate chip cookie dough cake covered in a rich dark chocolate ganache served with a heaping scoop of slow churned vanilla bean ice cream.
Honey Earl Grey infused white cake with a cream cheese frosting topped with figs and pistachios.
Caramelized pineapple cake and coconut rum whipped cream.
Gingerbread Layer Cake
This is one of the cakes I have dreamed about- only on a much smaller scale. This is a TALL 6-inch round cake.
I introduce you to this gingerbread layer cake with maple whipped cream and crunchy cinnamon sugar almonds.
Take the iconic warm flavors of gingerbread and translates it into a holiday cake!
This recipe makes three 6-inch round cakes. The cooled cake rounds are each sliced in half to create a total of 6 cake layers.
You may also bake the batter in two 8-inch or 9-inch cake rounds.
The frosting is a super simple whipped cream sweetened with brown sugar and maple extract.
For a dense, more stable frosting, you may use American buttercream (similar to the one use in these funfetti cupcakes) or Swiss buttercream (like the one used in this ginger grapefruit layer cake).
Gingerbread Layer Cake
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup warm water
Maple Whipped Cream:
- ⅔ cup sour cream, cold
- 1 ¾ cup heavy cream, cold
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), sifted
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
Cinnamon Sugar Almonds:
- as needed, purchased from Trader Joe’s
Instructions
Gingerbread Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 3 x 6-inch cake pans. Line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter. Add sugar and brown sugar and mix until smooth. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- Add eggs and molasses and mix until combined.
- Add 1/3 of dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Add 1/2 of water and mix. Repeat with another 1/3 of dry ingredients and remaining water. End with last 1/3 of dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
- Divide batter among prepared cake pans. Smooth top. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Rotate halfway thru baking.
- Remove cakes from pan and allow to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Once cooled, sliced each cake in half to end up with 6 layers.
Maple Whipped Cream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine sour cream and heavy cream. Mix on medium speed.
- Once mixture starts to thicken, slowly add brown sugar and sifted confectioners’ sugar. Add maple extract. Whisk until almost stiff peaks.
It looks wonderful…..did you slice in half each of the three cakes or did you double the recipe to make you cake as shown?
This is a must for holiday parties!
Thanks
Thanks, De! I sliced each of the 6-inch cakes in half to end up with the 6 layers.
Good one about the boyfriend. Had me laughing all night!
lol that’s really what he dreams about!
I’d love to meet that cake, it looks delicious. I’d pick off and eat all those candied almonds first though then dig in with a fork. I like how you’ve left the sides bare, I love this look a lot. I’ll be featuring this recipe on my blog on a feature I do called Baking News. Have a good day!
That’s how I ate it! Thanks Laura, I look forward to seeing it :)
Yum! My mouth is watering. Thank goodness I am making a cake today…
Thanks Leah! I can’t wait to see what kind of cake you bake!
the cake looks great!
Thanks! I appreciate it :)
Hello Maryanne, I really enjoy your blog and have nominated you for the Liebster Award. Please see below link to find out more. I would be jealous about your dream too if I was your bf. Haha :) x
http://www.thetrishaw.com/2013/12/nominated-for-liebster-award.html
Thank you so much!! I’m going to read up all about it :)
Wow! This surely looks majestic and I thinks it has all the great flavours of winter. Perfect for waiting for Santa!
Thanks Ana-Maria! I agree. I wouldn’t mind snacking on this cake while waiting for Santa :)
This is gorgeous! I love the candied lavender bits!
Thanks Brandee!
sounds delicious. Did you ever make the earl grey infused white cake with candied lavender. That sounds amazing
Hi Nicole, not yet. It is on my list of cakes to make :)
YUM!! I can’t wait to try this!!
Oh Maryanne this is indeed a dream cake!! It just looks stunning!!
Hi Maryanne,
You say 6″ pans but they look like 8″ in the photo! I don’t have 6″ but have 8 or 9 and don’t want to have to buy new ones. Do you think I could do with 2x 8 or 9″ instead of 3 x6?
Thanks
Hi Tamara, they look bigger because of the camera angle! Yes, you can totally use two 8 or 9-inch pans. I prefer 6-inch just because I end up with a taller cake.
Hi Maryanne,
I can’t get molasses/treacle where I live so I was wondering what I could use as a possible substitute instead? I really want to try making this for Christmas dessert!
Thanks!
Hi Jun! Molasses gives gingerbread is signature color and flavor. You can try substituting muscovado sugar in place, but it may change the texture of the cake. If not, molasses is widely available for purchase online. I hope that helps!