Gingerbread Loaf Cake!
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A sweet and spicy gingerbread loaf cake that’s perfect for christmas, and anytime you fancy something gingerbread! Delicious gingerbread sponge, ginger buttercream frosting, and more!
Gingerbread loaf cake
Tis the season to be jolly, and completely full of gingerbread. (I did sing that to myself in the tune, and it worked!). But anyway… IT’S SO CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS NOW!
I have always adored gingerbread cake because it is so full of lovely warming flavour, yet makes a change from gingerbread biscuits (not that there is anything wrong with them because helloooo yummy!), but something about ginger cake is just delightful.
Gingerbread
The flavours are similar to sticky toffee pudding in a way, and the mixes are too dissimilar either, but I just adore them both. The thing about gingerbread though? As soon as you even just make the mix of this cake, you house will have a warming smell that reminds you of christmas.
Now, I do often bake cakes similar to this year round, and I know that gingerbread is technically more bonfire night than christmas, but I just relate it to christmas so much more. I love the little gingerbread men you can put on top, and I just loooveeee it.
Repost
This cake was originally up on my blog near four years ago, but through the years of updating my blog and switching all the background stuff around (the stuff that makes my blog work and function) meant that I lost the images for the post!
Yes you could say “what about backups” but I also had an issue with that… so bye bye recipe. Therefore, I decided to repost the cake in all it’s glory, with a bit of an update to the decoration and style, but the sponge is still the classic and delicious it was.
Tin
For the tin, I really do recommend using this loaf tin. I will say this in every loaf cake recipe I do – the tin size can vary SO MUCH, and this has a lot of cake mix. You can switch it up to a different tin if you fancy, but honestly? I just recommend this one to the moon and back.
Decoration
I tend to drizzle my loaf cakes with something sweet just as it can look pretty, but this time I just went for some mini shop bought gingerbread men, and some cute little sprinkles. You can easily use homemade ones, but I find that they always come out so big, and the detail is never the same!
Piping
For the piping, I used my trusty 2D closed star piping tip, and swirled along one way side to side, and then again in the opposite direction. It gives it such a beautiful swirl on the side, and on the top. You can of course pipe on the cake however you fancy, but as we all know I love a thick slab of buttercream on a cake so it worked well!
Old recipe
I’m sorry that this cake was gone for so long – I would have brought it back sooner but I have just been so so busy! If you want to do it the original way, the sponge is the same – it just had a simple water icing dripping instead with some freeze dried raspberries on top!This cake is my ideal for this time of year – it’s easy, delicious, and utterly perfect for winter. I hope you all love this cake as much as I do! Enjoy! x
Gingerbread Loaf Cake!
Ingredients
The Cake
- 225 g unsalted butter
- 225 g dark brown sugar
- 125 g black treacle
- 375 g plain flour
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 medium eggs
- 225 ml whole milk (warmed)
- 2 tsps bicarbonate of soda
Decoration
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 300 g icing sugar
- 2 tsps ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- Gingerbread men
- Gingerbread crumbs
- Sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin! (***please see notes below)
- In a pan, gently heat the butter, sugar and treacle together in a pan until smooth, allow to cool for 10 minutes!
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, ginger and cinnamon together and pour in the treacle mix – stir to combine.
- Add in the eggs and stir to combine.
- Mix the bicarbonate of soda in with the warm milk and allow it to froth and thicken a little!
- Mix in with the rest of the mixture and pour into the tin!
- Bake in the oven for 50mins-1 hour, or until baked through! Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then fully cool on a wire rack.
For the Decoration
- Beat your butter on it's own for a few minutes to loosen it and make it lovely and soft!
- Add in the icing sugar, and the spices, and beat again! Continue beating until the buttercream is lovely and fluffy and perfect!
- Pipe your buttercream onto the cake, and decorate with some gingerbread men, and gingerbread crumbs!
Notes
- ***I recommend using this loaf tin for the cake! 2lb loaf tins can vary in size LOADS so please do not over fill your tin. Fill max 2/3 of the way, and make cupcakes with spare mixture if you have any.
- This cake will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days! The flavour keeps on getting better as the days go on.
- You could add some stem ginger to the recipe if you like when you beat in the egg!
- This cake is beautiful with a bit of custard, or a drizzle of cream, or just as it is!
- I also recommend using this piping tip as I just love it!
- And finally, Iced Jems does the BEST sprinkles!
ENJOY!
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J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Beautiful cake! My first attempt was overbaked after the 50 minutes (I think I got the temperature wrong)… I’d advise a little less time or just to check on it if your oven is a bit aggressive.
Please can I ask, have you tried making this with a milk substitute?
Hiya! I have not, but its worth a go! Let me know how it goes! x
Hi! I’d I wanted to add dark or white chocolate, what gram woyou add? Would you change anything else?
Hi
I made this today in a 2lb loaf tin and like others had some spare mix for cupcakes! My question is, the top of the loaf has cracked is that normal? Lol…. It’s smelling lovely, can’t wait to try it !!
Thanks 😊
Hiya! Yes – loaf cakes can crack at the top but this is normal! x
Really tasty cake but I found the quantity off as well. I always use your recipes and the loaf tins you recommend but this is the first time there has been too much mix. I didn’t put it all in as it seemed too much and it still rose dangerously close to the edge but thankfully just contained it. It was delicious though xx
Hi Jane,
Want to make this for a birthday but they love chocolate too – could I add chocolate chips into the recipe and if so would I need to reduce any other ingredients?
Thankyou! X
Hey, could I use this recipe for gingerbread cupcakes instead of a loaf cake? Would I need to change anything?
Hi Jane, thank you for all your recipes. I recently made your mini Terrys chocolate orange cheesecake and it turned out really well.
I’ve been wanting to make mini ginger cakes in that same tin, could i use these ingredients for this ginger cake recipe and maybe half them? Would the cooking time and oven temp be the same as this recipe?
Can I do this with self raising flour and remove the bicarb?
Hello. I wouldn’t recommend this x
Hi I really want to try this recipe, could I change the dark brown sugar to light brown sugar or would it make too much of a difference ? Many thanks. X
You definitely can – its just a slightly lighter flavour!
What a treat! Loved it. So moist , light and delicious. I did cream cheese and lime icing. Works excellent
Hi Jane, love your recipes this is the 1st one I’ve had a bit of bother with. The mixture didn’t mix well and there were small little lumps when pouring in to loaf tin. Did I do something wrong? Allowed mixture to cool and all but the flour didn’t mix properly.
Unfortunately if the flour was a little lumpy or you haven’t mixed it well enough there will be lumps – try and sift the flour well and use a whisk or similar to gradually add it to prevent it if you struggle x
So delicious and looks great! Made it for Christmas for the family
This was soooooooo delicious!!! My new favourite receipt… am wondering if I made the same recipe but put it in muffin cases instead of a loaf tin, would I still put it in the oven for 55 mins? (Sorry if that’s a dumb question)
Hiya – no the time will reduce. The timings are based on an entire cake not individual ones. Cupcake versions take about 22 minutes!
Hi can you freeze the gingerbread loaf cake ?
Yes you can!
Made this with my daughter who is 9. It is so tasty and a great recipe to do with kids who are interested in baking!!