The moist, perfectly spiced cake comes together in two bowls and your kitchen will smell like pure Christmas while it bakes. I based it on a recipe in my mom’s old. Junior League cookbook and just kept bumping up the spices. We love this recipe during the holidays because it all the baking chaos, sometimes you want something just for yourself that feels special but simple. No trendy decorating or techniques, just a well-done classic.
You can serve this in so many ways: warm, cool, topped with ice cream, or plain. And if you have any left, it’s quite good on days 2 or 3.
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.
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 a bit longer)
- 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 (this adds depth, not chocolate flavor)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (can substitute melted butter)
- ¾ cup molasses, NOT blackstrap
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg
Instructions
This is nice and simple. But don’t skip the extra step of mixing the dry ingredients separately. You really want all those spices mixed in properly.
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.
Run the bottle under hot water for a minute or microwave it for 15 seconds. Measure the oil first, then use the same measuring cup for molasses. It’ll slide right out.
Use it, but watch it like a hawk after 25 minutes. The thinner batter will bake way faster. You want the center to spring back when you touch it. I would prefer that you use a 9×9 and bake it 5-10 minutes longer, if you have that.
Your baking soda might be dead, or you opened the oven door too early. Next time, wait at least 30 minutes before peeking.
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.
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.