Last week, I shared a fun Gingerbread Layer Cake and it got me thinking – why not make a Traditional Gingerbread Cake to share with you, too? This Old Fashioned Gingerbread is an easy, delicious Christmas cake that requires no fancy decorating. If you have measuring cups and an electric mixer, you can whip up this cake in less than 10 minutes!

Gingerbread Cake Recipe

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make a traditional Gingerbread Cake recipe! I’ve made and shared nine different gingerbread-inspired desserts on the blog, so it’s about time!

This old-fashioned gingerbread cake is a warming, flavorful cake with a dense and chewy texture and a slightly crisp, caramelized top. It’s comforting and nostalgic, even if you’ve never had traditional gingerbread cake before!

I love geeking out, spending time researching traditional recipes and figuring out how to modify them for modern ingredients and busy schedules. Luckily, a traditional English-style gingerbread cake only needs a couple simple tweaks to make it accessible.

One big difference from old-fashioned gingerbread cake and how we make this recipe is that we are using molasses instead of black treacle syrup. While you can order black treacle syrup online or find it at local British-themed shoppes, it’s often expensive and honestly, I like molasses better! Black treacle syrup has a slight aniseed (licorice) flavor to it which I am not a fan of; however, if you do enjoy that or would rather make your gingerbread cake as authentic as you can, you can find black treacle syrup here.

Also, I was surprised that traditional recipes ONLY contained ground ginger for aromatics. I know, seems like that should have been obvious, but I always associate gingerbread with ginger, cinnamon and vanilla so I hesitated to skip these ingredients in my version.

Surprisingly, this cake is incredibly warm and flavorful with just the molasses and ginger that I didn’t miss the cinnamon and vanilla at all.

After you’ve tried this traditional Gingerbread Cake recipe, be sure to check out these other gingerbread-inspired recipes:

• Gingerbread Cupcakes
• Crockpot Gingerbread Lattes
• No-Cook Gingerbread Fudge
• Pecan Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies from Sweet Beginnings Blog
• Gingerbread Pancakes
• Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
• Gingerbread Rice Krispie Squares
• Gingerbread Donuts from Dash of Jazz
• Instant Pot Gingerbread Cheesecake
• Gingerbread Layer Cake
• Chewbacca Gingerbread Wookie Cookies

Check out our quick recipe video to see how easy this old-fashioned gingerbread cake is to make – and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe card:

Gingerbread Cake Ingredients

• Powdered Icing Sugar
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Eggs
• Molasses <– can use treacle syrup if you want to be more authentic
• Milk
• All-Purpose Flour
• Ground Ginger
• Baking Soda
• Pinch salt

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Large 9″ x 12″ cake pan
• Baking spray
• Parchment paper
• Electric mixer <– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
• Rubber spatula <– I like these spatulas because they are one solid piece and don’t have removable heads for bacteria to get trapped underneath. Plus they are heat-resistant and have a lifetime warranty.
• Large bowl
• Sharp kitchen knife
• Sifter (for optional powdered sugar topping)

How to Make Gingerbread Cake

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Grease and line a cake pan with parchment paper, then sprinkle with powdered icing sugar. Dump out the excess.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and pale, about 2 minutes.

Add the brown sugar and beat until smooth and airy, about 1 minute.

Add the eggs and beat until just incorporated.

Beat in the molasses or black treacle syrup, followed by the milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, baking soda and salt.

Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, beat to incorporate, and then beat in the remaining half.

Fold the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

If the top begins to brown too much, cover with a sheet of tinfoil.

Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before attempting to cut.

Pin this Traditional Gingerbread Cake:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our traditional English gingerbread cake recipe:

This Old-fashioned Gingerbread Cake has all of the warm, comforting flavors of gingerbread in a soft yet dense and chewy cake. It’s the perfect easy Christmas cake recipe when you want something traditional and unfussy.

For more delicious Christmas recipes, check out our Chewy Fruitcake Cookies recipe or our Crockpot Triple Hot Chocolate recipe.