This is the perfect holiday cake packed with the flavors of ginger, molasses, cinnamon, and maple syrup. A moist and tender gingerbread cake topped with a brown sugar pecan crumble and a sweet maple icing.
This “coffee cake” style cake can be enjoyed for breakfast, dessert, or snacking. It’s delicious any time of day!
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Why you’ll love this recipe
Flavor: This cake is packed with cozy wintery flavors like molasses, ginger, cinnamon, pecans, and maple.
Texture: Soft cake, crunchy crumble topping, and smooth icing.
Versatility: This cake can be served for breakfast alongside a cup of coffee, as a dessert, or even as a midday treat.
Recipe overview: 3 parts
*Full recipe below in recipe card*
Gingerbread cake: A buttermilk cake recipe flavored with molasses, maple syrup, and lots of warm spices.
Brown sugar pecan crumble: A buttery pecan crumble topping sweetened with brown sugar and spiced with cinnamon.
Icing: After the cake has cooled down, add a maple icing made from powdered sugar, milk, maple syrup, and maple extract.
Key ingredients
This recipe does have quite a long ingredient list. Fortunately most of the ingredients are pantry staples. Here are the key ingredients that help to make this cake extra delicious:
Molasses: This ingredient helps to give the cake a classic gingerbread flavor and imparts a deep sweetness and color.
Ground ginger: This also adds a classic gingerbread flavor. Two teaspoons are added to the cake batter.
Cinnamon: This warm spice pairs well with the other flavors and is used in both the cake and the topping.
Buttermilk: This ingredient helps to keep the cake moist for days! Don’t have buttermilk? Use a buttermilk substitute.
Maple syrup: Maple syrup is used in both the cake and the icing to add a sweet maple flavor.
Recipe tips
- All ingredients for the cake should be at room temperature.
- Make sure your spices are fresh for the best flavor.
- Use unsulphured molasses for the sweetest, purest flavor (avoid blackstrap molasses).
- Don’t have buttermilk? Try one of our buttermilk substitutes.
- Before adding the icing, poke the cake all over with a toothpick. Some of icing will settle into those small holes adding flavor and moisture into the cake.
- Feel free to swap the pecans in the topping for walnuts, if you’d prefer.
Serving and storage
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Store, tightly covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Recipe
Maple Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup unsulphured molasses, at room temperature
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature (see notes for substitutes)
Topping:
- ⅔ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted or very soft
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1½ tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon maple extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F Grease a 9×9 square baking pan.
- Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and brown sugar until well combined, about one full minute. Add eggs, molasses, syrup, and maple extract, beat until combined (the mixture might look curdled, that’s OK). Scrap the sides/bottom of the bowl as needed
- Add half of the dry ingredients and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the buttermilk, then beat in the remaining dry ingredients. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Topping:
- Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, pecans, and salt. Add butter and stir until well combined (I use a fork). Sprinkle over the top of the cake batter.
- Bake cake for 28-33 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center, comes out clean. The crumb topping in the very center of the cake will be the last thing to set; the topping will firm up as it cools.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes, then proceed with the icing.
Icing:
- Whisk all ingredients until smooth. If necessary, add more milk to thin or more powdered sugar to thicken. Using a toothpick, poke holes all over the top of the cake (I poke about 20 holes). Drizzle the icing over the cake. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Marissa
These flavors sound like they’d be absolutely delicious together! I need to make this during the holidays.
Amy Desrosiers
This recipe looks so amazing! I totally could go for a slice now! #client
Ashley Weasley
Agree! This is perfect with a cup of tea! Love it! I’ll make sure to try to make this.
Cait Weingartner
This cake looks amazing. Just the perfect breakfast treat for Christmas morning. I can’t wait to try this!
Joan Cajic
Who doesn’t love gingerbread? This looks so yummy.
Kerri
Could this recipe be doubled for a 9×13 pan? I’d like to make it for a large group.
Celebrating Sweets
I would guess that it should work just fine. Your cake will be thicker than mine, and you’ll need to adjust the bake time. Enjoy!
Molly Moon
This sounds so decadent and delicious! I am a coffee lover, and any treat that goes good with my coffee…I’m in!
Molly // Miss Molly Moon
Jesse
I love your recipe thank you for sharing! If I might added a side note for the topping maybe make a space for crumble and glaze because reading a recipe and listening to 5 children talk about their day and homework, I accidentally added the powered sugar and extract to the crumble *palm to the face* and only noticed after it was in the oven! Aye but thank you so much for the wonderful recipe. Have a blessed day and early merry Christmas!
Celebrating Sweets
Oh no! I hope the topping still came out ok. Thanks for sharing your experience, I will make some changes to the recipe to make that more clear. Ha! Happy holidays!
Allie
Just made this for Christmas morning breakfast with GF flour and dark chocolate and it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Celebrating Sweets
I love the idea of adding chocolate- yum! Thanks for the comment. Happy holidays! -Allison
Wes
It seems to me it takes longer than 40 minutes to bake. Has anyone else experienced that?
Celebrating Sweets
Ovens can vary a bit, so yours might bake on the slower side. Also, the time listed is for baking in a 9×9 pan. If you used an 8×8 it will be significantly thicker and take longer to bake.