A fun holiday cake this Gingerbread Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Drizzle is sure to evoke all the holiday joy!
A fun holiday cake this Gingerbread Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Drizzle is sure to evoke all the holiday joy!
You guys, Christmas is in 3 weeks. How can this be? It feels like it was just the end of Summer and school was just starting. We were still in flip flops, shorts and t-shirts. Fall literally flew by and now we are going to be in full fledged winter mode. Snow, frigid temps, boots and parkas.
I’m from Minnesota do winters can be pretty brutal here. -30 is nothing new and snow reaching a few feet every so often is something that we are used to. But in all honesty, as much as this is the norm here….it is never easy to get used to once it starts for the season. NEVER.
But this is one of the best times of the year. With Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year all clustered together in the span of 6 weeks; it’s like the celebration never ends. Family gatherings and good food are just the beginning.
Speaking of good food, this Gingerbread Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Drizzle is one for the books. Nothing screams Christmastime more than gingerbread to me. I always have to sneak in 1 or 10 gingerbread recipes throughout this time of year because frankly, I’m addicted to the flavor.
This holiday fave utilizes Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached All-Purpose White Flour as one of the key and essential ingredients. This flour is freshly milled from Organic hard red wheat. Both the bran and the germ have been removed leaving the endosperm that is made into white flour. It is not enriched with any additives.
Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached All Purpose White Flour is also incredibly versatile and can be used in so many other baking needs such as breads, pizza crust, cookies, etc.
So let’s get the low down on this gem shall we? 2 layers of gingerbread cake house a thick creamy layer of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. The whole thing is then coated in the same frosting and drizzled with a sweet caramel sauce. This cake is a fun family favorite that we love having as our Christmas dessert.
If you’re interested in trying this Gingerbread Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Drizzle then you’ll need to grab yourself this money saving coupon that you can use on some of your favorite Bob’s Red Mill products!
What are some of your favorite holiday flavors that you have to have on your table each and every year to celebrate the season?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups Bob's Red Mill Organic All-Purpose White Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp all-spice
- 1 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup mik
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 2 cups butter softened
- 2 8 oz blocks cream cheese, softened
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp cinnamon add more if needed and taste to your liking
CARAMEL SAUCE
- 1 11 oz bag caramel bits
- 1/2 cup cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Spray 2 9" round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper, set aside.
- In bowl with electric mixer mix together your butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in your molasses and eggs and keep mixing until smooth.
- In another bowl mix together your flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices.
- Alternate adding your flour mixture and milk into butter mixture in about 3 additions.
- Once everything is blended, distribute evenly in prepared pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until cake springs back and toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then run knife around edges of pans and turn cakes out onto wire racks to cool completes.
- While cooling make your frosting by beating your butter until fluffy. Add in your cream cheese and continue mixing until combined.
- Add in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, once all is added add in your heave cream until you reach your desired consistency, add in you cinnamon and mix.
- Once cakes are cool, add on layer onto cake stand/turntable and top with about 1 cup of your cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
- Top with other layer and spread a thin layer of frosting on the outside and top of cake to create a crumb coat then place in freezer for about 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes remove from freezer and continue to frost your cake reserving about 1 cup for decorating at end, starting from top down until sides and top is smooth, place back into freezer for about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile make your caramel sauce by combining caramels and heavy cream in sauce pan on medium heat, stir until caramels melt.
- Remove cake from freezer and using spoon around top of cake spoon a little of your caramel sauce over the top and pushing it over the edge a little to create a drip, do that all around the cake. Once all drips are created add more caramel sauce to top of cake to cover.
- Again place in freezer for about 10 minutes to cool down the caramel.
- To finish cake pipe the rest of the cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top of the caramel in any design and if desired garnish with cranberries and cinnamon sticks.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Shirley
Hi! This cake looks delish !
Is the last ingredient in cake that says mik
Is that milk ?
Tornadough Alli
Yes! Thank you for pointing that out – I’ll get it fixed.
Rebecca
Hello! I made this a few years back and loved it! I plan to bake it for an upcoming baby shower (in December) but wondering what your thoughts are for making it for 30 people – should I make three of them?
Tornadough Alli
I think that should be enough!
Sonia
What kind of cream can be used for the caramel sauce?
Tornadough Alli
Heavy cream
Jill
I made this today for my husbands birthday party. It was absolutely delicious and beautiful. Everyone was so impressed it didn’t come from a bakery. Definitely a keeper! Thank you so much for posting!
Tornadough Alli
I’m so happy that everyone loved it! Gingerbread and caramel go hand and hand that’s for sure!
Janis
I made this GF successfully todayusing Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 baking flour. It’s a delicious cake!
Kristin
Does it really need to go in the freezer? I have no freezer space to do this but really want to make the cake.
Tornadough Alli
Kristin, it doesn’t I just like to put it in there to quick set it, but you could just place it somewhere cold it would work.
Celine
Hello! Does this really need the caramel drizzle? I was looking for a gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting and I don’t want the caramel drizzle to be too rich or too much and take away from the cake. Thoughts on doing it without it?
Tornadough Alli
No it doesn’t necessarily need the drizzle, it should still be good without it 🙂
Kari
Have you ever made it with gluten free flour? My nephew is celiac so wondering if it would work gluten free?
Tornadough Alli
I haven’t personally baked with gluten free flour but I know that you can substitute it 1:1 so you can use the same amounts of gluten free in this recipe.
Tina
Has anyone maid this cake and if so is it worth making???????
Stephanie
I made it 2 years ago and it was a HUGE hit and tasted superb! I am making it again this year!
Tornadough Alli
Thats so great! Love hearing this!
Alicia
Hello Alison, do you use fresh ginger or ground ginger?
Tornadough Alli
Ground ginger.
Donna
If i wanted to make cupcakes how long would I cook them for? Any idea?
Alison
How many days in advance can I make this cake?
Tornadough Alli
Hi Alison, I probably would say maybe 1-2 days at best. I you can store in fridge or freezer. I would probably leave off the caramel until you actually are going to serve it, or a few hours ahead of time.
Julie Stinson
I am making this cake for Christmas!!! Sounds dish! Just a question, though. Isn’t there supposed to be cinnamon in the frosting? Don’t see that in the ingredients listed for the frosting. How much cinnamon would you add? Thanks.
Tornadough Alli
Hi Julie! Thanks for pointing that out, It’s really based on preference but start with 1 tsp of cinnamon and go from there adding about 1/2 tsp more the more cinnamon flavor you want 🙂
Kayla Snider
Just a top for everyone! You can cut this frosting down quite a bit. We had like double what we needed for this cake!
Tornadough Alli
Hi Kayla, thanks for the tip! I used all the frosting called for in the recipe on my cake. I like a thick middle and used the rest on the top, but for people who like less this is a great idea 🙂 there is plenty of frosting where lessening the amount is ok to do 🙂
Katriina
What are caramel bits?
Tornadough Alli
Kraft sells small round caramel balls and those are what I used. Essentially and caramels will work.
Jesel
Hey there, I’m definitely trying out this recipe for Christmas. I have an aunt who’s bitrthday is on Christmas Eve. So this cake would be the perfect Christmas dessert and birthday cake. I just wanted to ask if you mind sharing the brand of caramel bites you used?
Tornadough Alli
Hi Jesel! I used Kraft as they make the bits, but any brand of softer caramel pieces would work.
Jesel
Thanks I appreciate it! I was scared that if I used just any brand they might not melt as well or come out good, but that helped a lot. 🙂
Sally
Can you use regular All-Purpose Flour instead of the Name Brand shown on the recipe??
Tornadough Alli
Hi Sally! You absolutely can substitute and other regular all-purpose flour!
Lori
How many wou,d this cake serve?
Tornadough Alli
Hi Lori, this would serve around 8-10 people.
Jess
How much cinnamon do you put in the frosting?? It doesn’t say.
Tornadough Alli
Hi Jess, it’s actually personal preference but I would start with 1 tsp and taste to see if you’d like more cinnamon flavor and add from there. Hope that helps! I’ll add that to the recipe 🙂
Laura Vanden Akker
I just saw your cake on Pintrest and it is beautiful!!!! I like to paint watercolor pictures, and I was wondering if you would allow me to paint from the photo you shared?
Tornadough Alli
Hi Laura, how flattering that you like my photograph enough to paint from it. That is no problem at all, I’d love to see your finished work when your done!