Merry belated Christmas! I hope you all celebrated (if you do), with those you love, surrounded by loads of food. We had a super chill Christmas with Jill and her family, which was just what we needed. I always struggle a little with homesickness, especially around the holidays, so it’s always so nice to have people who are like family to spend it with.
I had planned to take between Christmas and New Year off, kicking off again once we are in 2019, but I remembered this morning that I was meant to share this recipe for Gingerbread Sheet Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting before Christmas, and life got in the way, so here we are now!
I know people think of Gingerbread as a holiday recipe, but as far as I am concerned, it should be a year round flavour. The recipe for the Gingerbread sheet cake comes from my good friend Brooke Bell’s book, “Cake: Layered, Frosted, Sliced and Shared”. The book is filled with cakes for every occasion, from a jazzed up box mix to more complex layer cakes. The recipe for this Gingerbread sheet cake jumped out at me - it is super simple to make, but still incredibly delicious, filled with warming spices, keeps well, and perfect for feeding a crowd. It would be perfect just with a little dust of powdered sugar, but I had some cream cheese that needed using up, so made a quick maple cream cheese frosting, which fancied it up just a tiny bit - definitely not totally necessary, but very, very delicious. This cake is perfect to help us bridge the weird gap between Christmas and New Years.
A few wee tips:
- This cake is amazing just with a quick dusting of powdered sugar, so if you aren’t in the mood for frosting, feel free to skip it.
- This cake keeps beautifully in an airtight container - perfect for if you have people drop by.
- I love sheet cakes because they transport super well - provided you have a parchment paper sling in the baking pan, you can frost it right in the pan and serve from there.
- You can either make this in a bowl with a whisk or electric hand mixer, or your stand mixer - I did it in my stand mixer because I am lazy, and it worked just as well!
“Cake: Layered, Frosted, Sliced and Shared” was written by Brooke Bell, and is Copyright 2018 83 Press.
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A note on salt and oven temperature
It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.
All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.
Using the double / triple function in the recipe card
You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!
Tools and equipment
For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.
Why is this recipe in grams?
I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!
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Gingerbread Sheet Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Yield: Makes one 9” x 13” cake - serves 12-16 1x
Description
Gingerbread Sheet Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Gingerbread Sheet Cake
- 320g (2 ¼ cups) All-Purpose Flour
- 200g (1 cup) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- 300g (1 ¼ cups) whole milk
- 170g (½ cup) unsulphured molasses
- 90g (6 Tbsp) Canola oil
- 2 large eggs
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 335g cream cheese, cold from the fridge
- 670g icing sugar, sifted
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- ¼ tsp salt
- 80g maple syrup
Instructions
GINGERBREAD SHEET CAKE
- Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with baking spray, or grease with butter. Line with a parchment paper sling.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; add milk, molasses, oil, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at low speed until combined, about 1 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan. Tap pan on counter twice to release air bubbles.
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Dust with icing sugar, or frost with maple cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)
MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese on high until pale and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add icing sugar, vanilla bean paste and salt, and mix on low to combine. Turn the mixer to high and beat for another 3-4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add maple syrup, and beat until well combined.
- Scrape the frosting onto the cake, and spread with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Cake recipe reprinted with permission from “Cake: Layered, Frosted, Sliced and Shared”.
This cake is delicious and oh so simple to make! The batter comes together before the oven even heats. It's that easy to pull together. I've been enjoying it during the thaw season here in Michigan because it's warm and cozy and brightens your day. Next holiday season I'm fully prepared to arrive at any and all gatherings with this cake in hand. It's officially one of my favorite sheet cakes.
Ahhh you're finding all the gems in my archives hahaha I need to update all these recipes so they have the proper formatting!