Gingerbread Bundt Cake is deliciously light and easy to make. It's also perfect for the holidays! Light hints of cinnamon and molasses in a sweet and moist cake. Serve up a little slice of this after your fried catfish or meatloaf dinner!
This old fashioned Gingerbread Bundt Cake recipe is about as easy to make as wrapping a present! Serve a slice as you would a coffee cake--for breakfast, snack or dessert!
This particular recipe is my Grandmother's and she made it quite often when my Mother was a child. Many similar on-line recipes include brown sugar and/or nuts and dried fruit.
I'm not a big fan of dried fruit in desserts (that's getting a little too close to a fruitcake, which I abhor), so I left the recipe as she wrote it and I think you'll find it quite tasty--not too sweet and not too much molasses.
Ingredients
The ingredients are clean and simple: flour, salt, butter, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar, molasses and buttermilk. By the way...your kitchen will smell delicious!!
Can I substitute syrup for molasses?
First, let's agree that syrup and molasses are sweeteners; however, they are different types of sweeteners: syrup is derived from the sap of maple trees and molasses is made from cane sugar.
Molasses comes from "cooking down" sugar, usually 1-3 times. During each cooking period, more and more sugar is extracted, resulting in a dark brown liquid that is molasses. (Blackstrap molasses is "cooked down" three times more than regular molasses which means it is less sweet than a molasses that has only been "cooked down" once.")
This old fashioned gingerbread recipe isn't super sweet, and that's because it uses molasses and not syrup. Molasses has a distinct flavor to it that really can't be replicated with table syrups.
Maple syrup is sweeter than molasses and there are many grades of Maple syrup. Most often we only know about Grade A or Grade B, but just know there are many other grades out there.
Syrup might work in an emergency situation, but if you use syrup, add a little brown sugar because it contains molasses.
A better choice might be to use a little Steen's Cane Syrup. This dark, oil-like cane syrup hails from Louisiana and is much closer in flavor to molasses than syrup, especially national brand syrups that contains additives, preservatives, flavorants and who knows what else.
How to make Gingerbread Bundt Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, blend together butter, sugar and eggs. (Room temperature butter; you can just use a fork--no need to pull out the mixer!)
- Add buttermilk and molasses to egg mixture; combine well
- Then, add this molasses mixture to the dry ingredients; combine well
- Spray bundt pan lightly with oil then, sprinkle pan with sugar; shake off excess
- Pour batter into pan and bake till the center is done
Notes about prepping the bundt pan:
- Even if you're pan is non-stick, spray it lightly with oil.
- Believe it or not, a light sprinkle of sugar - NOT FLOUR - helps the gingerbread cake release from the pan. It's amazing how easily the cake comes out when you use sugar and not flour. (Use plain granulated--not confectioner's or powdered sugar.)
- Oil and dust the pan with a light coat of sugar right before you pour in the batter. DO NOT prep the pan in advance, as the ingredients slide down to the bottom of the pan.
I sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top of the gingerbread bundt cake; however, if you want to add an icing or glaze, go for it! Make yourself a little gingerbread treat anytime you want!
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Craving more? You might like Rum Glazed Scandinavian Cake or Italian Cream Cake!
Gingerbread Bundt Cake
Equipment
- Bundt pan
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups flour , sifted; all purpose or cake flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon for dusting pan
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (optional) to sprinkle on top of cake
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup molasses
Instructions
Prep
- Remove butter from fridge and allow to come to room temperature
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
Assemble Ingredients
- In a large bowl, add flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon; stir and set aside
- In another bowl, combine room temperature butter, sugar and eggs; combine well
- Add buttermilk and molasses to sugar mixture;stir
- Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; combine well
- Lightly spray bundt pan with oil then dust pan with a little sugar; shake off excess
- Pour batter into prepared pan
- Bake 50 - 55 minutes, or until the center of the cake comes out clean on a toothpick
- Allow cake to rest for 5 minutes
Remove Cake from Bundt Pan
- Use a knife and gently loosen cake from pan, including the center tube
- Place cooling rack over cake; hold rack and pan together and flip
- Remove bundt pan ; allow cake to cool about 5 minutes
- Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional) and serve
Notes
- Even if you're pan is non-stick, spray it lightly with oil.
- Believe it or not, a light sprinkle of sugar - NOT FLOUR - helps the gingerbread cake release from the pan. It's amazing how easily the cake comes out when you use sugar and not flour. (Use plain granulated sugar; not confectioner's or powdered sugar.)
- Oil and sugar the pan right before you pour in the batter. DO NOT oil and sugar the pan in advance, as the ingredients slide down to the bottom of the pan.
Nutrition
I'd love to hear from you!