A festive winter dessert adorned with cream cheese frosting and an exuberant crown of sparkly sugared cranberries! This Gingerbread Layer Cake is the perfect sweet treat for any holiday get-together.
FEELIN’ WHISKY IS 2!
Check out the video up at the top of the page before you pin that hot hot recipe!
In case you didn’t watch the video (pls do tho), let’s talk a little bit about this cake. This is a delicious, rich, show-stopping gingerbread cake, not for the faint of heart. It’s deeply and unapologetically spiced, with an immediate THWAP of gingery heat underscored by thick, sticky molasses.
IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, DON’T FORGET TO SNAP A PHOTO AND TAG ME IN IT ON INSTAGRAM @FEELINWHISKY! I LOVE SEEING WHAT YOU DO WITH MY RECIPES!
PrintGingerbread Layer Cake
A festive winter dessert adorned with cream cheese frosting and an exuberant crown of sparkly sugared cranberries! This Gingerbread Layer Cake is the perfect sweet treat for any holiday get-together. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Scale
For the sugared cranberries:
- 1 cup granulated sugar, (plus more for coating)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
For the gingerbread layer cake:
- 1 cup molasses ((not blackstrap))
- 1 cup stout beer*
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- Pinch ground cardamom (optional)
- Pinch kosher salt
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, (softened)
- 2–3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the sugared cranberries the night before: Make a simple syrup with sugar and water. Remove from heat and add cranberries. Chill in a bowl overnight. Drain cranberries the next day, reserving syrup if you want, and roll in more sugar. Refrigerate sugared cranberries for about an hour until they feel dry to the touch.
- Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a large saucepan (bigger than you think you’ll need, because this will foam up a lot), bring molasses and stout to a boil. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in baking soda. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
- While the stout-molasses mixture is cooling, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then cooled stout-molasses mixture.
- Sift flour, baking powder, spices, and salt into wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold together until just combined. There will be lumps, but that’s okay.
- Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack lined with parchment to cool the rest of the way (this is a very sticky cake and will stick to your cooling rack if you don’t line it). Bake the other layer while you wait for the first one to cool.*
- Make the cream cheese frosting: Once the second layer is completely cooled, beat together softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until a thick, spreadable frosting forms. You can add a splash of milk or cream to thin it out, if needed.
- Assemble the cake: Place one layer of the cake on a platter or cake stand. Scoop about a cup of frosting onto the cake and spread carefully to the edges in circular motions. Be sure to get a fairly thick layer around the edge, as this cake won’t be frosted on the outside.
- Place the second layer on top and repeat the process with the remaining frosting. Decorate with a generous heap of sugared cranberries, then slice and serve!
Notes
- A mild stout, like Guinness or something similar, is best here.
- You can substitute all-purpose flour 1:1 for the whole wheat pastry flour.
- If you (unlike me) have two 9-inch round cake pans, you can bake both layers at once instead of separately.
Gingerbread Layer Cake
A festive winter dessert adorned with cream cheese frosting and an exuberant crown of sparkly sugared cranberries! This Gingerbread Layer Cake is the perfect sweet treat for any holiday get-together. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Scale
For the sugared cranberries:
- 1 cup granulated sugar, (plus more for coating)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
For the gingerbread layer cake:
- 1 cup molasses ((not blackstrap))
- 1 cup stout beer*
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- Pinch ground cardamom (optional)
- Pinch kosher salt
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, (softened)
- 2–3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the sugared cranberries the night before: Make a simple syrup with sugar and water. Remove from heat and add cranberries. Chill in a bowl overnight. Drain cranberries the next day, reserving syrup if you want, and roll in more sugar. Refrigerate sugared cranberries for about an hour until they feel dry to the touch.
- Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a large saucepan (bigger than you think you’ll need, because this will foam up a lot), bring molasses and stout to a boil. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in baking soda. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
- While the stout-molasses mixture is cooling, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then cooled stout-molasses mixture.
- Sift flour, baking powder, spices, and salt into wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold together until just combined. There will be lumps, but that’s okay.
- Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack lined with parchment to cool the rest of the way (this is a very sticky cake and will stick to your cooling rack if you don’t line it). Bake the other layer while you wait for the first one to cool.*
- Make the cream cheese frosting: Once the second layer is completely cooled, beat together softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until a thick, spreadable frosting forms. You can add a splash of milk or cream to thin it out, if needed.
- Assemble the cake: Place one layer of the cake on a platter or cake stand. Scoop about a cup of frosting onto the cake and spread carefully to the edges in circular motions. Be sure to get a fairly thick layer around the edge, as this cake won’t be frosted on the outside.
- Place the second layer on top and repeat the process with the remaining frosting. Decorate with a generous heap of sugared cranberries, then slice and serve!
Notes
- A mild stout, like Guinness or something similar, is best here.
- You can substitute all-purpose flour 1:1 for the whole wheat pastry flour.
- If you (unlike me) have two 9-inch round cake pans, you can bake both layers at once instead of separately.
Hi Emily,
This video was a hoot! Love the humor and the normal people stuff, like spilling sugar on the counter and killing time with the beer and dancing while you’re waiting for things to finish.
Good job on the editorial comments too, Katie! The mom joke was perfect.
I’m looking forward to more of these!
Yay, thank you so much, Dianne! I’m so glad you loved it! Katie really gets most of the credit; I just showed up and baked the cake 😉 Can’t wait to share more!