Gingerbread Layer Cake

If you’ve typically enjoyed gingerbread as an unfrosted snack cake, this layer cake version will be a real treat. We stay traditional to the classic gingerbread ingredients and flavors—lots of ground ginger and other warm spices, plus a good dose of molasses—but we give it the layer cake treatment to make it feel a little more special. We use a standard layer cake method, creaming together butter and sugar, adding eggs, and incorporating dry ingredients for a tender, moist crumb.

Now, where we differ from classic gingerbread tradition is by adding our special Southern spin: a rich, luscious Southern caramel frosting. The sweetness and richness of the frosting perfectly balance the cake’s spicy notes, creating a holiday dessert that’s truly memorable.

Read on for all you need to know to re-create this sweet stunner. 

Gingerbread Layer Cake Ingredients

Most of the ingredients for the cake and frosting are standard baking staples: all-purpose flour, leaveners, different sugars, and dried spices. A few ingredients deserve a special call-out:

• Unsalted butter: We use unsalted butter and add our own table salt, which offers greater control over the final flavor of the cake and the frosting. For the cake, make sure the butter is softened properly, or it won’t cream well with the sugar.
• Room-temperature eggs: We specify using eggs that are at room temperature for a good reason. If you add refrigerator-cold eggs to the creamed butter and sugar, they will chill the butter, causing the fluffy, aerated mixture to “break” and become curdled. Room-temperature eggs, on the other hand, will incorporate smoothly. If you’ve forgotten to bring your eggs to room temp, simply place them in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes. 
• Molasses: This dark, sticky syrup has a rich, sweet, slightly tangy, faintly bitter flavor and is a major contributor to gingerbread’s character. Be sure to choose unsulphured molasses (likely what you’ll find most readily), and avoid blackstrap, which has a strong bitter edge.
• Evaporated milk: We knew we wanted to use evaporated milk for the caramel frosting because its concentrated, almost caramelized flavor would be ideal there. We decided to also use it in the cake for more richness (it worked beautifully), and to help you use up most of the can.  

How to Make Gingerbread Layer Cake

For the cake part, you’ll follow a pretty traditional layer cake method. First, you’ll whisk together the dry ingredients.

Then, you’ll cream together softened butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. After that, you’ll beat in room-temperature eggs, one at a time, and then beat in some molasses. At that point, you’ll add the dry ingredients and beat until the batter is well incorporated.

You’ll divide the batter between two cake pans and bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center either comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs clinging. You’ll cool the cake layers briefly, then remove them from the pans and allow them to cool completely.

Once the cake is cool, you’ll start the frosting; you don’t want to start it ahead because it will set up fairly quickly. The frosting starts with melted butter that’s cooked and combined with dark brown sugar and evaporated milk until you get a smooth, homogeneous mixture. You’ll transfer the mixture to a large bowl, stir in vanilla and salt, and then beat in powdered sugar until the frosting is smooth.

About a third of the frosting goes onto the bottom cake layer and then chills for a few minutes to firm up. The top cake layer then goes on top, and the rest of the frosting is spread over it. We only frost the tops of the cake layers, leaving the sides bare; since the caramel frosting is so rich, we don’t want to overwhelm the cake.

How to Store Gingerbread Layer Cake

Keep the cake covered, and store it at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. If you still have some left, you can stash it in the fridge for up to 5 days; for the best flavor and texture, bring it to room temperature before eating.