Now this is one seriously good cake.
If you’ve been following this blog for a while you know I love cake. This has to be one of my favorites so far. I’ve said it many times before and I’m ready to stand by it again, I like soft gingerbread cake more than gingerbread cookies. Sorry if I’ve offended anyone. Pair a soft gingerbread cake with some buttercreamy and tangy cream cheese frosting and you’re good to go.
On another note, that dress I’m wearing in the picture below has been spotted before. I promise it’s not the only piece of clothing I own, although it’s the only white piece of clothing I own. If you know me, you also know that about 95% of my wardrobe consists of black clothing.
Anyway, today is the first of advent in Sweden which is (to most people anyway) when you’re supposed to put up all the Christmas decorations. I haven’t had time to do that as I have a deadline for my book tomorrow, yet somehow I’m sitting here writing this post.
I should probably finish that. And you can go make this cake!
Soft gingerbread cake
with cream cheese frosting and sugared cranberries
Gingerbread spice mix
This recipe makes more than you need for the cake but I figure why not make some extra for other uses? I highly recommend grinding cardamom and cloves with a pestle and mortar instead of buying ready made. It does make a huge difference!
4 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp freshly ground cardamom
3 tsp freshly ground cloves
Soft gingerbread cake
270 g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
4 tsp gingerbread spice mix
1/2 tsp ground bitter orange peel (can be omitted)
2 large eggs
100 g light muscovado sugar (or light brown sugar)
100 ml* cane syrup
125 g butter
100 ml heavy cream (about 35-40 % fat content)
150 ml* milk
Sugared cranberries
Fresh cranberries, a couple of large handfuls
1 egg white (use pasteurized if you’re worried about eating raw eggs)
Granulated sugar, for rolling
Cream cheese frosting
I’m using a large amount of butter for this recipe to add stability as this is a rather tall cake. Cream cheese frosting tends too be a bit on the loose side, but not this one!
150 g butter, softened
180 – 210 g (1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
200 g cream cheese, cold
Instructions
Soft gingerbread cake
1. Heat oven to 175°C (350F). Butter and flour three 15 cm (6 inch) baking pans. Set aside.
2. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, gingerbread spices and ground bitter orange peel in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy and lighter in color, about 3-4 minutes. Add cane syrup and beat until smooth.
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add cream and milk.
5. Add dry ingredients and butter mixture to the egg mixture in additions.
6. Divide batter between prepared cake pans and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then unmold onto a wire cooling rack.
Sugared cranberries
1. Dip cranberries in egg white and put them on a piece of kitchen paper so they’re not soaking wet when rolling them in sugar (this will make the sugar lumpy).
2. Roll in sugar and leave to dry for 30 minutes or so. Make the frosting while you wait.
Cream cheese frosting
1. Beat butter until pale, about 2 minutes.
2. Add powdered sugar and continue beating until frosting is very pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
3. If you want the frosting to be as white as possible, add just a tiny bit (start off with a super small amount, like the tip of a toothpick and then add more if needed) of purple/royal blue icing color.
4. Add cream cheese and beat until just smooth.
Assembling the cake
1. If cake layers are domed on top, even them out just slightly using a serrated knife (you can correct this with an even layer of frosting instead).
2. Put the first cake layer on a cake stand or plate and spread a fairly thick layer of frosting on it using an offset spatula.
3. Keep doing this until you’ve used all three cake layers. End with a layer of frosting on top of the last layer.
4. Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake and put it in the fridge to set for a 10-20 minutes if needed.
5. Decorate with sugared cranberries and a sprig of spruce if desired.
A few notes
-*100 ml = 6 tbsp + 2 tsp
-*150 ml = 10 tbsp
-If you don’t want to use egg whites for the sugared cranberries, Naomi over at Bakers Royale has another way of making them with a simple syrup.
That looks absolutely divien! HEAVEN!!
Your layer cakes are a force to be reckoned with!
Wow, this is such a beautiful cake! The decorations are perfect… It looks like winter fairytale 🙂
I love those sugared cranberries on this cake. So gorgeous!
Wow, this whole setting is ridiculously beautiful. I just adore your decorating skills and capturing everything so perfectly in your photos!
xo Julia
This is truly amazing, I love the decorations and the cake platter you used!!
perfection!
What a beautiful cake. I will be making this for the holidays. I love your old film reel tins. My grandparents owned a theatre and I was lucky enough to get a few of those tins. I dip chocolates and the tins are perfect for storing them. You do beautiful work. Photo's, recipes. Fabulous.
I'm so in love with this effect of frosting the cake so that the layers are still visible! I've just recently seen another gorgeous cake frosted this way, too — between yours and theirs I'm pretty sure I'll never feel the same way about fully frosted cakes again! Just lovely.
great photos as always ! 🙂
Hi, Lisa. This cake is so beautiful. The hardest part is to assemble the cake like you did… Why don't you post a video teaching how to assemble it correctly. It would be very helpful.
Amazing! i love your work!
Absolutely stunning. Your blog is a huge inspiration for me. Thank you!
Oh wow this is awesome! I love it so much! Happy December! Love to you!
So incredibly beautiful – just magic!!
This is true art! LOVE the cake and all the photos, beautiful, beautiful!
You had me at 'soft gingerbread cake'. But it looks so incredibly beautiful – I love the cake naked with just a crumb coat. And those sugared cranberries look magical. Truly.
Så underbart gott och vackert! Jag är så glad att jag hittat din blogg! Nu ska jag äta "din" mintglass med min son. Han säger att det är det godaste som finns. Jag länkade till dig igår och skrev om Lomelinos glass:
http://queenofkammebornia.se/2013/december/den-godaste-glassen.html
Kram!
Fantastiska bilder! Är glad att jag hittade dig idag 🙂
Ny favorit!
Mvh Åsa-Karin
Ljuvligt Linda – helt fantastiska bilder!
Finns recepten på svenska någonstans nuförtiden?
Så snyggt så man storknar :-O Jag finner inte ord! Gjorde också mjuk pepparkaka förra veckan och det är ju sjukt gott också…
dear linda .. amazing job as always .. i need to ask if i can do the smae thing with rasberries ..instead of cranbrries
layal
Hi Layal!
I would probably not use raspberries for this as I think they are too soft.. blueberries, lingonberries or currants would be better!
Just stumple upon your blog. Wow! It's lovely.
Love the rusric-winter look of the cake! So beautiful. You have amazing skills ♥
Any chance you can give tips on how to make that smooth, thin layer of icing around the cake so perfectly?
It's a darn beauty of a cake, looking forward to attempting this for Christmas. <3
I have just recently discovered your blog and it has been such an inspiration, I honestly want to try just about every recipe I come across.
I hope you don't mind that I have used some of your amazing images on my blog (with credit and links back to you of course)
theepicureandream.wordpress.com
What a beautiful cake! The decoration is superb 🙂
Thank you so much 🙂
Gorgeous cake!!
Thank you Megan!
WWoooowww…
these photos of sweets makes me hungry!
Gostei muito do seu Blog… bem organizado, fotos e relatos legais…
Agora vou acompanhar direto!
Cicloabraços
Quem sabe a gente pedala juntos um dia!!!
http://www.joaozinhomenininho.blogspot.com
Thank you so much! 🙂
Baked this cake for a Christmas party, it turned out so well! Tastes fantastic and looks really great with sugar cranberries. I used Bakers Royale recipe for cranberries and it worked well and there is no eggy smell. Thanks for a great Blog!
Soo happy to hear you enjoyed this cake! Thank you for the kind words!
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Simply lovely! Curious…how many people would this serve?
LINDA i am so DEEPLY in love with this photo series! and, the cake looks RIDICULOUSLY delicoius. included it in my weekly roundup of amazingness holiday things. PS the dress continues to look cute! 🙂
Beautiful cake and photos Linda! Can't wait to try it 🙂
Could I use honey instead cane syrup?
I HAVE TO (this looks so great) make this cake for christmas ane they don't have none of syrups in local grocery store…
Dearest Linda,
The cake, the images, the styling and the recipe are amazingly beautiful, gorgeous and delicious. You are an inspiration, Thank you Linda xoxo
Happy Holidays and a wonderful Christmas
Made this yesterday for a birthday. Couldn't get it the gingerbread to rise enough, but very good!
You've done a STELLAR JOB of this absolutely yes, amazingly DIVINE gorgeous looking cake!!! Your BEAUTIFUL photo's show off this stunning piece of ART that you've created. I'd say, it's more than deserving of being on the front cover of a fabulous, & well recognized food magazine. My only complaint would be…that I can't have a great BIG slice of it right this very moment:-)
I am planning to prepare gingerbread cake with cream cheese soon as it sounds lipsmacking and healthy.
thanks for the replay , another question , do u mean purpel or royal blue or both togather ?? and can use this icing to ice carrot cupcakes is it easy to pip ??
Just bake the gingerbread cake (couldn't find cane syrup and used honey instead), added some cinnamon cream cheese on it and covered with peaches… My friends almost fought for the last piece! 🙂 Amazing taste!! 🙂
Hey, just wanted you to know I was so excited to make this cake for our Christmas party tomorrow. I even bought three new cake pans that were the right size. I've now made this through twice.. being meticulous about weighing/measuring ingredients and both times the cakes did not have enough batter to even cover the bottom of the pans and they did not rise more than 1/2 inch both times. I can't imagine what I've done wrong??
Hi there! I'm so sorry to hear that! The only step I can imagine where things could go wrong is the whipping of eggs and sugar, where the batter should be very fluffy. Are you ok with the ml measurements? Maybe I should go ahead and change them.. I've made this cake several times and it really should rise a bit, and it should be delicious of course!
I've slept on it 😉 I think because I used molasses (we don't have cane syrup here) maybe molasses isn't acidic enough to make the baking soda activate. I think this morning I will find a recipe that uses molasses and then finish with your icing.. it's just too pretty not to try again! Thanks so much for answering:)
Beautiful, just beautiful. I am mesmerized (and perplexed) as to how you were able to make the frosting lines so perfect. I see that the frosting covers the cake so that the width of the frosting is wider than you'd think if you just do a thin layer of frosting all over. Is there a secret for the we newbie bakers to get it to look so even and great? I would love to make this for our Christmas. Thanks!! Just love this site.
Hi did you use salted or unsalted butter for the frosting?
I always use salted because I prefer it, but you can use either!
I've made this every year for Christmas for the past 3 years. It is always fantastic, and a show stopper.
I made this last year for our family Christmas dinner. It was a HUGE hit and everyone is already asking for it again this year! Thanks so much, this recipe is already becoming a family tradition for us.
So so happy to hear this, Kacey! Thank you so much for leaving such a sweet comment 🙂
Hello! I am excited to make this for Christmas, but I’m worried it won’t fit in a standard cake carrier since it’s 3 layers. Do you believe it will fit? The tallest carrier I can find is 7-8 inches. Thanks!
I’m not sure it would fit actually. Those carriers are usually a little rounded, aren’t they? If possible – bake the layers in larger pans (like 8 inch/20 cm) – you could even make just two layers in larger pans. Just make sure to adjust the time accordingly and start checking doneness a little earlier. That would make a wider, but not as tall cake and should fit in a carrier. Hope that helps!
Ok perfect! That’s what my backup plan was but I wasn’t completely sure if I would need to change the amount of ingredients/time. I’m a baking newbie 🙂 appreciate the help!
Greetings
I just discovered your blog via a link on Pinterest and your cake looks amazing, elegant and stunning. After Christmas I will return and spend some time looking around.
I have a question about how you decorated the cake. I’ve done the cranberries before with great success. But I am wondering about the other decorates…the sprig of greens and the pine cone. As they are not safe to eat how did you go about using those on the cake? It really does make the look dramatic and I would love to use those. Any suggestions? My only thought was to put a sheet of parchment paper over the frosting then lay that down and cover it with a thin layer of the frosting to cover the paper.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Sandra! Thanks so much for your sweet comment!
If you pick these outside you can just rinse them under water and then let them dry and use them safely on the cake. Neither pine cones nore pine sprigs are toxic and are thus completely safe to decorate with! Of course, they wouldn’t be delicious to eat.. Hope that helps!
Thank You for replying so quickly. I was just wanted to be sure before placing them on the cake then having a group of people sitting there hashing over the pro’s and con’s of whether they were going to end up in the ER. Will venture out in the yard on Christmas Eve and gather a few as I know the lawn and garden in my complex are never sprayed.
Have a wonderful holiday.
I made your cake last Christmas and am about to make it again as it was so delicious. Better than Christmas cake.
I’ve had this post pinned for a few years and never gotten around to making it. This year is the year! But I have a question about the cane syrup. From what I’ve gathered online, both Steen’s and Lyle’s make a cane syrup but they are very different in flavor. Did you use one of these brands? I’ve never used cane syrup before. Thanks!
Hi Ashley! I’ve never used either brands but looking at the pictures, Steen’s looks more like the kind I used for this recipe. But I bet either would work fine! 🙂
This cake looks amazing and I really want to get BR it a go!
I have been asked by my mother in law to make the Christmas cake this year for 14 of us. I am not a great baker! My question is… how easy is it to make this well?
Also, can I make the cake a few ahead of time and freeze it, and then ice it on Christmas Eve?
Thanks,
Holly
*give it a go (not BR)
Hi Holly!
It’s not super hard to make, but if you’re not used to making layer cakes it might just be a little tricky. You can definitely make the cakes ahead of time and freeze them, and then ice on Christmas eve. It’ll be worthwhile if you decide to make it as it’s sooo good. I also recommend the gingerbread bundt cake, it’s easier to make and serves more people, should you be interested 🙂 https://www.callmecupcake.se/2014/11/gingerbread-bundt-cake-with.html
I’ve made this cake twice following the measurements exactly. While it tastes good, I definitely don’t get the rise for 3 cakes – barely enough for 1. I’ve had to double the recipe each time to get 2 cakes. Not sure what I may doing wrong to get such a low rise.
BTW – I saw the same recipe here and she also doubled the recipe: http://baking-ginger.com/soft-gingerbread-cake-with-sparkling-cranberries/
Hi Farah! Looking at the photos her cake looks wider to me, she may be using larger baking pans – 8 or 9 inch, but I can’t be sure as it doesn’t say in the recipe (as far as I can see).
Hi Farah! Yeah, that does sound odd! Are you baking in three 6 inch pans? And you’re using baking soda, not baking powder? Sorry for asking, I bet you did everything right, it’s just those things that I could see going wrong.. 🙂
Hi Linda – you are right! I wasn’t using 6 inch pans – that was the mistake. I guess I wasn’t following your recipe as exactly as I thought! Thanks for getting back to me. The cake did turn out beautifully though!
Hi Farah! Ah, I’m glad we were able to figure it out 🙂 Glad to hear the cake turned out anyway!
I’ve just made this but I had some problems ? the butter and sugar mixture never got fluffy, it only got thicker and a hot lighter in color. And the batter was quite lumpy at the end, but I also didn’t want to overmix the batter. I’ve never had a problem with your recipes before. Any idea what I did wrong??
Hi Julianna!The eggs and sugar mixture should easily get fluffy and light in color within minutes! But you say it’s thick and light, sounds about right to me?! 🙂 Perhaps your eggs were too cold? They get less volume when whipped if they are very cold. You can give it a quick whisk at the end if you feel that the batter is quite lumpy, I tend to do that, just to get rid of any flour clumps. Or simply sift in the mixture! Hope that helps and sorry to hear you’re having problems!
Sorry, I meant eggs and sugar, not butter and sugar.