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!
Jump to: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.
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.
Recipe
Maple Gingerbread Cake
This moist and tender gingerbread cake is topped with a brown sugar pecan crumble and sweet maple icing.
from votes
Print Pin SaveSaved!Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 396kcal
Ingredients
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
*To properly measure flour, spoon flour into measuring cup and level it off. Don’t have buttermilk? Try one of these buttermilk substitutes. Serving and storage: Serve warm or at room temperature. Store, tightly covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days. Recipe updated December 2023. Original recipe can be found HERE.Nutrition
Calories: 396kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 131mg | Potassium: 294mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 413IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
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