Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

Gingerbread cake doesn’t have to be complicated. This recipe has stood the test of time, is trusted by generations of bakers, and it couldn’t be simpler to make. Enjoy this old fashioned gingerbread cake while it’s warm, with Caramel Sauce poured over, or vanilla ice cream (or both). It’s also delicious plain or with butter. 

The recipe came out of the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook, compiled in 1967 as a Centennial project of the Canadian Home Economics Association. The collection amounts to a nation-wide family favourites cookbook with recipes that span centuries and the many cultural influences that are Canada. In the book, this recipe is called Signal Hill Gingerbread.

This is about the easiest gingerbread cake recipe you’ll ever find.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

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★★★★★

5 from 10 reviews

This is the easiest gingerbread cake you’ll ever make and the best tasting too. The texture is excellent. A family favourite.

• Author: Crosby's Molasses
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 55 min
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 6-8 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ cup soft butter
• ¾ cup Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 cup boiling water

Molasses Caramel Sauce

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
• 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp. 35% cream (whipping cream)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Grease and flour an 8”x 8” square pan (or line the pan with parchment paper.) *
3. Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Add the butter, molasses and egg and beat for two minutes or 300 strokes by hand. (This is a very old recipe…)
5. Add the boiling water.
6. Beat for another two minutes and turn into prepared pan.
7. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Molasses Caramel Sauce

1. Over medium heat, melt the butter, brown sugar and molasses in a heavy bottom medium size pot. (The pot needs to be tall enough to allow for foaming.)
2. When the mixture is incorporated, slowly add the cream.
3. Boil for 5 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Notes

A great tip from a reader: “In preparing your loaf pan for the gingerbread mixture, take a mixture of a handful of sugar with a handful of cinnamon and use that to sprinkle onto the greased pan instead of just flour. It gives the edges and bottom of the cake some additional flavor that the flour will not.”