This gingerbread loaf with molasses frosting is going to be your new favorite holiday treat. Moist, tender gingerbread cake is topped with rich, creamy, sweet, and tangy molasses frosting to create a dessert that’s full of festive fall flavor.
When it comes to the holidays, we’re all about those sweet dessert recipes, and treats like this quickbread or our gingerbread cake with molasses frosting are always at the top of our list when we need something sweet for the holiday season.
This delicious gingerbread loaf is moist and tender, while still being perfectly dense, and it’s topped with a delicious molasses frosting to really make it pop!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: All you need are basic baking ingredients found in your kitchen or grocery store.
- So Easy: This is a simple recipe that even beginners will have no trouble with.
- Wonderful Holiday Flavor: The gingerbread cake and molasses frosting create a delicoius dessert full of holiday flavor.
- A Great Make-Ahead Option: You can freeze extra loaves for later and make the frosting when you need it.
Key Ingredients
You’ll find a full list of ingredients and their exact amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Holiday Spices: A blend of ginger, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice gives the cake its classic holiday flavor.
- Dark Corn Syrup: Dark corn syrup gives the bread a deeper sweetness and adds more moisture for a tender loaf.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese gives the frosting a tangines that’s perfect with the gingerbread flavor.
- Molasses: Molasses adds the signature earthy sweetness that we all love about gingerbread to the frosting.
Variations
- Cupcakes: Use this batter to create full-size or mini gingerbread cupcakes with molasses frosting.
- Extra-Tender: For a super-tender loaf, try using cake flour.
- Gluten-Free: Use a high-quality 1:1 gluten-free baking flour to create a loaf that’s just as moist and tender as a traditional one, making it perfect for mixed company.
How to Make Gingerbread Loaf with Molasses Frosting
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Heat the milk and brown sugar in a saucepan until lukewarm. In another saucepan, heat the molasses and corn syrup until lukewarm.
- Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture while the milk and molasses mixtures cool a bit.
- Mix them into the flour mixture followed by the egg. Then, pour the batter into two prepared loaf pans.
- Bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Then, cool the loaves completely.Combine the frosting ingredients and chill. Then, frost the cooled loaves and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Cube your butter first. Then, chill it until ready to cut it into the flour to create the best loaf texture.
- Bring your egg to room temperature for better emulsification without overmixing.
- Mix your wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Overmixing creates a dense, tough loaf.
- For the best frosting texture, sift your powdered sugar before mixing.
- Mix your frosting while your loaves are cooling, so it has plenty of time to chill before using it.
- Your loaves should be fully cooled before frosting. Any warmth will thin the frosting, causing it to slide offf of your loaf.
Gingerbread Loaf FAQs
This gingerbread loaf is a quick bread, so it’s a little bit of both. It has the sweetness and moisture of a cake, but with a slightly denser texture.
If you don’t fully soften your cream cheese and butter, you can end up with a grainy texture due to tiny particles of unmixed cream cheese and butter in the frostin.
Frosted, this gingerbread loaf will last for about four days in the refrigerator. Unfrosted, it can be stored for up to three months in the freezer wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil.
More Delicious Holiday Recipes
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Gingerbread Loaf with Molasses Frosting
Ingredients
Gingerbread
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup dark corn syrup
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 9 ounces milk
- 1 large egg
Molasses Frosting
- 4 ounce cream cheese
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly spray (4) disposable paper loaf pans (7×3.5×2).
Gingerbread
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice together. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, heat milk and brown sugar together just until sugar is melted and is lukewarm.
- With another small saucepan, heat molasses and corn syrup until lukewarm as well.
- While both pans are cooling down a bit, cut cold butter into small pieces, add to the flour mixture, and use a pastry blender, or 2 forks, until mixture resembles fine crumbles.
- Once both pans have cooled to luke warm, add milk mixture to flour mixture, stir until blended then add molasses mixture. Stir.
- Add egg and whisk until well Incorporated.
- Pour into the prepared disposable paper loaf pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let cool completely in the baking pan.
- Once cooled, remove from the pan and let cool completely.
Molasses Frosting
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together until creamy.
- Add vanilla and cinnamon, mix well.
- Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until creamy.
- Mix molasses into mixture and blend well.
- Refrigerate frosting until chilled then frost each loaf once completely cooled.
Notes
- Cube your butter first. Then, chill it until ready to cut it into the flour to create the best loaf texture.
- Bring your egg to room temperature for better emulsification without overmixing.
- Mix your wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Overmixing creates a dense, tough loaf.
- For the best frosting texture, sift your powdered sugar before mixing.
- Mix your frosting while your loaves are cooling, so it has plenty of time to chill before using it.
- Your loaves should be fully cooled before frosting. Any warmth will thin the frosting, causing it to slide offf of your loaf.
Could you do it in one loaf pan
This is such a yummy fall/holiday recipe! I made it last night, and we loved the flavor and how moist and tender it was.
I’m going to be making this all year long. I made it last night, and it’s gone already.
This was so good! I’m going to make it again and fold in some dried fruits for some kind of a gingerbread fruit cake mashup.
This is such a delicious seasonal favorite. The frosting is my favorite part!
This is gingerbread to the ultimate degree. I love the texture, and the molasses frosting was amazing.
I have never made ginger bread loaf til I found this. Totally didnt expect how good it tasted. Loved the frosting too
This sounds heavenly! I absolutely love the combination of warm gingerbread spice and tangy molasses. A gorgeous holiday bake!
This is Christmas in cake form! So comforting and delicious…I love gingerbread and it pairs perfectly with the molasses frosting which I had never had before this recipe. SO good!
Just baked this and my kitchen smells like Christmas. The frosting is everything — smooth, rich, and perfectly spiced.
This tastes like Christmas in dessert form. I absolutely love the frosting.
This gingerbread loaf with molasses frosting was so good! Looking forward to making it for the holidays!