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A deliciously spiced gingerbread traybake cake that’s perfect for the festive season! Scrumptious sticky gingerbread sponge, ginger buttercream frosting, and more!
Was another festive season really going to pass without me posting a gingerbread traybake recipe?! I think not. How could it?! I know how much you guys adore traybake recipes, and gingerbread recipes!
I wanted to do this post last year, but after the downright success of my gingerbread loaf cake I didn’t want to post this so soon! You guys still love the loaf cake though, so hopefully you will consider the traybake version haha!
Traybake cakes are always a hit for me when it comes to baking for a crowd (and yes I know this year is a little different, but you get what I am saying!), for a bake sale, or just because you prefer to eat cakes like that.
Traybake are easy – you just cut out a chunk, it’s one layer, and you have a slathering of something utterly delicious on top. Can you really beat that?! I love them.
My carrot cake traybake is without a doubt one of my favourites, along with my chocolate cake traybake – and this one?! It’s basically a combination of them both, but Christmas.
Ginger cake to me should be sticky, dense, and warming through the spices. My gingerbread drip cake is more classic sponge to make it easier, but the rest of my gingerbread related cakes are the same sticky dense lovely sponge that we all adore.
I won’t lie and say this cake is light and fluffy, but it also shouldn’t be! You use dark brown soft sugar (or light brown) and black treacle (or golden syrup) to create a rich and lovely flavour… add the ground ginger and cinnamon on top and you have the best bake ever.
I did change this sponge to use self raising flour and no bicarbonate of soda (As that’s what I had in at the time..) but if you wanted to use plain flour, and add 2tsps bicarbonate of soda to the milk (which you will need to warm and let sit for 10 minute before using) you can!
I do find traybake tins can really vary in size – so sometimes that creates a bit of confusion. I typically call them 9×13″ tins as that’s what I have mostly – but I do also have a lovely 9×12″ tin. It is a tiny bit smaller – but both size tins will work well for this recipe.
For the topping I did the same style ginger buttercream frosting because I utterly adore it – and it’s so simple to make. It’s important to use block butter when making buttercream and not a spread (As it’s too soft). Make sure to bring the butter to room temp first, and it’ll be easy!
You can decorate the cake as you like… I used mini gingerbread men (shop bought, don’t hate..) some crushed biscuits and some sprinkles. So simple – but you can also change it to whatever you prefer or fancy!
I hope you guys love this recipe – it’s been very very highly requested so I hope it doesn’t disappoint! Enjoy! x

Gingerbread Traybake Cake!
Ingredients
The Cake
- 300 g Unsalted Butter (or baking spread)
- 300 g Dark Brown Soft Sugar (or light brown)
- 150 g Black Treacle (or golden syrup)
- 475 g Self Raising Flour
- 4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 4 Medium Eggs
- 300 ml Whole Milk
Decoration
- 125 g Unsalted Butter (room temp)
- 250 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 9x13" traybake tin (or 9x12" if that's what you have!) with parchment paper.
- In a pan, gently heat the unsalted butter, dark brown sugar and treacle together in a pan until smooth, allow to cool for 10 minutes!
- In a large bowl, sift the self raising flour, ginger and cinnamon together and pour in the treacle mix – stir to combine.
- Add in the eggs and stir to combine.
- Finally, add in the milk and mix again.
- Pour the mixture into the lined tin - it's quite a runny mixture so don't worry.
- Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until baked through.
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tin fully.
For the Decoration
- Beat your unsalted 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!
- If your buttercream is a little thick, add 1-2 tbsp of boiling water or whole milk and mix again to smooth.
- Spread the buttercream onto the cake, and decorate with some gingerbread men, and gingerbread crumbs and some sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
- 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!
- Instead of buttercream you can do a drizzle of icing hinted with ground ginger! Use 200g icing sugar, 2-3 tbsp of water (or as much as you need to get the consistency you want) and 1/2 tsp ground ginger.
- I recommend using this 9x13" traybake tin, or this 9x12" traybake tin!
- And finally, Iced Jems does the BEST sprinkles!
ENJOY!
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J x
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34 Comments
Isabella Hawkins-Curley
February 2, 2021 at 11:37 ammade this and it was absolutely AMAZING – first time making a ginger cake and it turned out so delicious, exactly as the blog described. the texture was dense and fudgey but not too much so, and it had just the right amount of sweetness! i also hand made the gingerbread men to put on top, great way to use up any leftover christmas spices!
Louise
January 4, 2021 at 10:30 amDelicious, went down a storm over Christmas. Will definitely be making it again!
Abigail Monck
December 23, 2020 at 4:43 pmI only have semi skimmed milk, is this OK to use instead of whole milk?
Jane's Patisserie
December 23, 2020 at 5:40 pmIdeally whole milk is used as semi skimmed can sometimes make the mixture split, but it may be okay!
Stephanie B
December 23, 2020 at 9:57 amI made this in a bundt tin and it came out perfectly! My mixture wasn’t very runny though (I checked the recipe at least three times to make sure I measured correctly!). The flavour and texture was delicious – like the traditional gingerbread biscuits I would make with my mum as a kid. I took it to work and it was gone by lunchtime! Thanks again Jane for another fantastic recipe! ❤
Nikki
December 17, 2020 at 8:15 pmAmazing!! Tastes like christmas🎄
The best cake we’ve made
Justanotherdroid
December 16, 2020 at 6:07 pmMade this recipe today. Can safely say it’s not going to be around for long! Surprised how runny the mix was – have had thicker milkshakes. But it cooked fine so all good! 👍
Just got to decide what to make next from this amazing site. Keep up the amazing work Jane! 😁
Monica
December 15, 2020 at 8:39 pmMade this today and it was sliced by my partner before I could decorate it 😂 he said its the best he’s tasted and I have to agree.
Another great recipe, thank you and merry Christmas 🎄
Liv
December 15, 2020 at 8:03 pmThis is absolutely gorgeous, I love it! The whole family loves it and we even gave some to friends and they said it was amazing too x
Tabz
December 15, 2020 at 10:35 amLovely recipes each and every1 of them. This recipe says ground ginger. Is it powder or fresh ginger please?
Jane's Patisserie
December 15, 2020 at 1:01 pmGround ginger is a powder I guess – usually found in a spice pot!
Sarah Emery
December 12, 2020 at 7:09 pmDelicious recipe! I thinking of serving it with Ice Cream, what flavour do you think will go well?
Jane's Patisserie
December 12, 2020 at 8:32 pmOoh something vanilla, caramel or salted caramel!
Sharon
December 11, 2020 at 2:57 pmLovely recipe came out really well. My old people I care for absolutely love it.
Martine Paddock
December 10, 2020 at 6:10 pmJust made the ginger tray bake tasted amazing just iced the top with speinkles
Rhiannon
December 11, 2020 at 7:23 pmHi 🙂 love your recipes. I brought a 9” for the brownies but I’m trying to branch out. Any chance this would work in a 9” square ? Maybe 3/4 of the recipe? X thank you
Jane's Patisserie
December 11, 2020 at 9:14 pmI would use 2/3! x
Laura
December 10, 2020 at 4:53 pmIf I want to make a batch of 12 cupcakes using this recipe, how would you suggest altering the quantities? Would halving them work?
Jane's Patisserie
December 10, 2020 at 5:32 pmI’m not 100% sure but yes that should be about okay! X
Nic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes
December 10, 2020 at 4:35 pmThanks for sharing, this looks a lovely cake for a different treat 🙂
Liz
December 9, 2020 at 9:53 pmHi Jane, as always the recipe looks amazing.
There are only 2 of us. So wondered if the cake can be frozen?
Thank you in advance for your time.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas x
Jane's Patisserie
December 10, 2020 at 10:15 amYes it can be! And merry Christmas! x
Ali
December 9, 2020 at 2:06 pmJust made this. I only had large eggs so I used 3 large instead of 4 medium. It’s delicious and gone down well with my gingerbread family. I bought the little gingerbread men from Tesco, they were in the Christmas aisle.
Em
December 9, 2020 at 10:15 amRecipe looks great could I also use it for cupcakes aswell as tray bake? Thanks
Jane's Patisserie
December 9, 2020 at 10:51 amYes you can – cupcakes take about 20 minutes to bake!
Daisy
December 9, 2020 at 9:43 amReally looking forward to making this. Is there a way to make this vegan?x
Jane's Patisserie
December 9, 2020 at 10:14 amI’m afraid I haven’t tried it vegan – I guess with a good egg replacer and vegan substitutes it should be fine!
Radhika Patel
December 9, 2020 at 8:25 amHI Jane, this looks amazing!! Where did you get the little gingerbread men from please?
Jane's Patisserie
December 9, 2020 at 9:14 amMentioned on the post – all supermarkets sell them in the festive/baking/biscuit aisle.
Lisa Martin
December 12, 2020 at 1:24 amYou can get them in clear plastic containers in most major supermarkets. There are quite a few in a box/container and are usually very cheap.
Morgan
December 9, 2020 at 8:23 amSounds delicious! Would you be able to convert this to a 9×9 tin?
Jane's Patisserie
December 9, 2020 at 9:14 amYou would want to use about 2/3 of the recipe I think!
Reshma Patel
December 9, 2020 at 8:11 amI only have large eggs. And your recipe calls for 3 medium eggs. So would I just use 2 eggs?
Jane's Patisserie
December 9, 2020 at 9:15 amHiya, the recipe is four medium so I would use 3 large x