Celebrate the holidays in style with this incredible Christmas Gingerbread Cake. Three layers of moist gingerbread are covered with a cream cheese frosting for an amazing Christmas dessert that will impress everyone!
Do you love gingerbread? We sure do! We look for ways to add our favorite winter flavor in everything we make, all winter long! Cookies, breads, even lattes! We simply can’t get enough. This gingerbread cake fits in with our gingerbread theme with the most amazing gingerbread flavor. The combination of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves will leave you salivating! It’s all topped off with a cream cheese frosting to make the ultimate Christmas cake. This stuff is what Christmas dreams are made of!
Buttermilk in Christmas Gingerbread Cake:
The batter for this cake calls for buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk will react with the baking soda and baking powder to help this cake rise, creating a fluffy crumb. If you don’t have buttermilk, be sure to read our Buttermilk Substitutes post to pick something that works for you. Please don’t just use milk or water. It will impact the results of the cake.
Cupcake Instructions:
Would you prefer gingerbread cupcakes to a gingerbread cake? No worries, this recipe works for cupcakes too! They are baked at 325 degrees for 20-22 minutes and this recipe makes about 36 cupcakes.
Can I make gingerbread cake into only two layers?
Is a 3 layer cake too much for you? We get a lot of requests for instructions on how to make a smaller version of the same cake. Simply divide the recipe by 2/3rds for a two layer cake or use the scaling feature on our recipe card below.
Frosting Options:
We highly recommend cream cheese frosting with this cake. It is the perfect pairing with the gingerbread! You can always use regular buttercream frosting if you don’t like cream cheese frosting or if you don’t have the space in your refrigerator for storage.
Storage Instructions:
Due to the cream cheese frosting, you’ll need to store this cake in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It will begin to dry out the longer it is left in the refrigerator, however it never lasts long enough in our home for that to happen!
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious cake recipes:
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
It’s really good but I found it too sweet. I think I would do 1 and 3/4 of brown sugar or even 1 1/2. I packed it in and it may have been too much so I went light on the frosting
Love this cake!! Made it for my husband and work and it came out so good…so moist. Will make it again! The only thing i did differently was add more spices after seeing someone else had. I love cinnamon and ginger. Thank you for this recipe! Love your chocolate cake too!
I really wanted to love this cake based on the reviews. but my family would not eat it. It has a very strong molasses taste; I feel the molasses easily could have been cut in half. Unfortunately, I would not make this again. Just know that the flavor is very strong if you are going to make it. The frosting was great though.
Tried this recipe today.. Turned out so so good.. Substituted vegetable oil for butter. And it was so soft and plump and yummy.
Thank you!!
Great recipe. Made an eggnog buttercream instead.
I made this for my cousin and she said it was the best gingerbread cake she ever had!
I made this wonderful cake recently, and it was fantastic everyone loved it. This one is a keeper, thank you for a great recipe.
Ooo 💜 my lordie what a cake, I’m obsessed with anything ginger and this one hit all the marks. I only did the 2 layers because that would have been to big a temptation to finish the left overs, so 2 layers was better than 3…lol
I have a few Ginger cakes I make regularly, this one was special as I haven’t had such a light Ginger cake before, except for a ginger sponge of course. Thankyou thankyou for sharing this delicious recipe…⭐🥰⭐
I have a family of picky eaters who have a variety of food allergies. Desserts rarely please everybody in this crowd. But! This gingerbread cake received rave reviews from everyone! It has been officially inducted into our annual Christmas menu! It’s very rich, so I recommend cutting slices that are as thin as a gingerbread cookie. If you do, this enormous cake will last and last. You could easily serve 30 people!
I just made this cake, and quite honestly, it was the best I’ve ever made (and I’ve made a lot). The final consistency was perfect for gingerbread and the flavor was out of this world. The only tweak I made was, after all ingredients were mixed together, the batter seemed quite thin. I added about a 1/2 cup of flour to thicken it up a bit, and it was great! Highly Recommend!