This is a classic done right. My old-fashioned gingerbread is moist and full of spices. It’s so easy to make and everyone will love it. Plus, your home will smell just like the holidays!
You can serve this in so many ways: warm, cool, topped with ice cream, or plain. And if it lasts long enough, it will still taste good the next day.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
Double-check your spices before starting. They need to be fresh, and you need them all. They’re the heart of this recipe! You can use melted butter instead of vegetable oil, but the oil will make the cake moister.
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This will make eight servings in an 11×7 pan. If you’d like to double or triple this recipe, you can make adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Equipment
- 11×7 baking pan (or 9×9, but the baking time will be shorter)
- Electric Mixer
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting the pan
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon cocoa
- ½ cup vegetable oil (can substitute melted butter)
- ¾ cup molasses, NOT blackstrap
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg
How to Make Old-Fashioned Gingerbread
Step One: Dry Ingredients
Heat your oven to 350℉ and spray your pan. Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl – flour, baking soda, salt, and all the spices.
Step Two: Wet Ingredients
In a large bowl, beat the oil, molasses, sugar, milk, and egg with your mixer on low speed.
Step Three: Mix
Add the dry ingredients and mix on medium until smooth. Scrape the bowl to get everything mixed in.
Step Four: Bake
Pour into your pan and bake for 40 minutes. It’s done when the top springs back and the edges pull away from the sides.
Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Cut into squares or slice it up – whatever works.
Serving & Storing
You can serve this plain, with some powdered sugar, whipped cream, or with a scoop of caramel gingersnap ice cream.
For any leftovers, you can cover the pan with plastic wrap and store it at room temperature for up to 3 days.
If you want to freeze it, cut it into slices, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. To eat, thaw at room temperature.
Questions and Troubleshooting
Yep, you can. But using oil generally makes the cake moister.
Any type except blackstrap will work great.
You can, but you’ll need to adjust the cooking time. A 9×9 pan will hold the recipe well, but the baking time might be a bit shorter.
More Old-Fashioned Recipes For The Holidays
- For more gingerbread flavor, make this gingerbread Bundt cake that’s perfect to bring to a holiday work party.
- My old-fashioned molasses cookies are always the first to disappear from the cookie plate at Christmas.
- Put some Christmas music on and make peppermint fudge! It’s not scary, but you DO need a candy thermometer.
- Old-fashioned peanut butter balls are super easy to make. You just mix, shape, and dip!
Printable Recipe
Old Fashioned Gingerbread
Equipment
- 11×7 baking pan (or 9×9 but the baking time will be shorter)
- Electric Mixer
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting the pan
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon cocoa
- ½ cup vegetable oil (can substitute melted butter)
- ¾ cup molasses NOT blackstrap
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Prep. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350℉. Prepare an 11-by-7-inch baking dish by spraying it with nonstick spray.
- Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl
- Mix wet ingredients. Beat the oil, molasses, sugar, milk, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed.
- Combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix at medium speed until the batter is smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes, until the top springs back when touched and the edges have pulled away from the pan.
- Cool. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. You can turn it out and cut the gingerbread into slices, or cut squares and serve directly out of the pan.
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Notes
Nutrition
Love,
Would have been perfect if you’d left out that stinking cocoa- that’s all that kept you from a perfect 5 star rating. It’s difficult living in a chocolate – mad world when you have allergies.
hi karen! let me know if you try it without it and how it goes.