
Fanny Farmer Sour Cream Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Sour cream gingerbread loaf is so easy to make. It’s a light textured cake that stays moist for days stored in a tin. Extra delicious frosted with cream cheese icing.

You never have to worry about gingerbread going stale.
Leftover cake on the counter isn’t always a blessing. Sometimes you just don’t feel like eating it three days in a row. Unfrosted cakes can always be frozen but gingerbread offers a better solution — You can store it on the counter in a tin and a few days later it tastes even better. Gingerbread gets more and more sticky (which is part of its charm) and the flavour intensifies.

Gingerbread stores better than any other cake. It actually gets more moist as each day passes and the flavours develop beautifully.
This recipe makes a 9″x5″ loaf and can also be baked in an 8″ square or round cake pan (adjust baking time to about 30 minutes).
This recipe is slightly adapted from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook (originally published in 1896 as The Boston Cooking School Cookbook). It’s a classic East Coast cookbook full of gingerbread recipes and other treats that never go out of fashion.
PrintFanny Farmer Sour Cream Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Sour cream gingerbread loaf is so easy to make. It’s a light textured cake that stays moist for days stored in a tin. Extra delicious frosted with cream cheese icing.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Category: Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. ginger (or a blend of your favourite gingerbread spices)
- 1/2 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grease and flour a 9″x5″ loaf pan or line it with parchment paper.
- Beat eggs well. Add sour cream, molasses and sugar.
- Whisk flour with baking soda and ginger and stir into the egg mixture. Add butter and beat well.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly pressed and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- Cool completely before frosting.
Notes
Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 2- 2 ½ cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Beat together cream cheese and butter.
- Beat in the sugar until you reach desired stiffness. Mix in vanilla.
- Spread on cooled cake.
*This recipe makes a 9″x5″ loaf and can also be baked in an 8″ square or round cake pan (adjust baking time to about 30 minutes).
Catherine
Ooh. Definitely want to try this. Will it work with 0% Greek yogurt?
Crosby Molasses
Hello Catherine. We have never tried this recipe with 0% greek yogurt but I don’t see why it won’t work :). -Marie from Crosby’s Kitchen
Kerry
Does the loaf freeze well?
Crosby Molasses
Hi Kerry, Yes, this loaf freezes well.
Anne Marie Desveaux
Love your recipes love baking with Crosby’s molasses when I was growing up we also ate homemade bread with Crosby’s molasses is so yummy
Crosby Molasses
Thanks Anne Marie, Homemade bread and molasses is such a treat. Yum!
Gale
Can this gingerbread with sour cream be bake in a 13×9 pan? How long would I bake it? How would I go about changing the recipe?
Crosby Molasses
Hi Gale, You could double the recipe and bake it in a 9″ x 13″ pan. It will end up taller than the single recipe but the extra height would be nice. It will likely take at least 45 minutes to bake, and possibly up to an hour. I would start checking it at 40 minutes. Good luck.
Elaine
Can this recipe be made gluten free by using King Arthur Measure for Measure GF flour? I have made the Fanny Farmer regular gingerbread with it successfully.
Lynn Purdy
Elaine, we have had good luck making gingerbread with GF flour. So, please give it a try.
Lorraine Neron
Love your recipes !!!…Delicious and easy to make !!!!…Thanks !
Veronica
Can the sour cream cgingerbread cake be baked in a loaf psn.
Crosby Molasses
Hi Veronica, Yes, the sour cream gingerbread can bake in a loaf pan but will need to bake longer.
Monica West
Yes