This gingerbread bundt cake is a spiced bundt cake with gingerbread men baked inside. It is topped with maple icing. Everyone will love this special and delicious this holiday cake!
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This festive Gingerbread Bundt Cake is a show-stopping holiday cake. It’s a moist, and perfectly spiced bundt cake with gingerbread men baked inside! A simple maple icing makes the perfect finishing touch.
This cake was inspired by my Cupcakes with Hearts in the Middle recipe. Baking an unexpected treat inside a cake makes the cake fun and special!
For more holiday cakes, try my orange cranberry pound cake, pumpkin olive oil cake, and my chocolate pear bundt cake.
Why This Recipe Works
- The cake is so fun to cut into to discover the gingerbread men!
- This cake is perfectly spiced but not overly spiced. Even people who are not big fans of gingerbread can enjoy it!
- The icing is so simple to make.
- Gingerbread bundt cake makes the perfect Christmas dessert!
Instructions
Instructions
As mentioned, this recipe involves making two cakes. Luckily they are both easy to make. Since you need to add the gingerbread men to the spice cake, you’ll want to follow the overall recipe in the following order:
- Make the gingerbread cake.
- Allow cake to cool.
- Cut out the gingerbread men.
- Make the spiced bundt cake.
- Spread 2 cups of the spiced cake batter into the bundt pan.
- Stick the gingerbread men in the bundt pan.
- Pour/spread the remainder of the spiced bundt batter over the gingerbread men.
- Bake, cool, and invert the cake. Cool completely.
- Glaze. Cut in to reveal the gingerbread men and enjoy!
Expert Tips
Tip #1: Grease your pan well! Bundt pans have a lot of little nooks and folds, so you want to make sure they’re all greased. I recommend using melted shortening or nonstick vegetable oil spray. Check out this this article How to Prevent Bundt Cake from Sticking from Handle the Heat.
Tip #2: Grease your pan right before using it. It’s best to wait til right when you’re ready to bake to grease your pan. If you grease it then let it sit, the grease could start to slide down the pan as it sits.
Tip #3: Use a cake decorating turntable to ice the cake. If you have a cake decorating turntable, place the cake on it to ice the cake. Spin the turntable around as you tilt the cup filled with icing overtop.
Tip # 4: Use a 3 inch cookie cutter. You’ll need a gingerbread cookie cutter for this recipe. Mine is 3 inches high and 1 inch deep. I found it to be a good size. I wouldn’t use a cookie cutter that is taller than 3 inches because they may them stick out of the bottom of the cake.
Recipe FAQS
No, but it’s important not to overbake the gingerbread cake. You want it fully baked but not overly baked.
You will end up with gingerbread men in every slice. You’ll first spoon some spiced cake batter at the bottom, then add a big row of the gingerbread men back to back around the pan. All the gingerbread men then get covered with the rest of the batter.
First of all you’ll stick their heads in about a half an inch in the spiced cake batter. Also, you’ll be placing them up against each other so they don’t have far to fall. If they start to lean sideways, just try to hold them in place with one hand as you go.
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Gingerbread Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 (1) egg beaten
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) molasses
- ½ teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon) salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons (1 1/2 teaspoons) cinnamon
- 2 ½ cups (312.5 g) flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon (1 1/4 teaspoon) baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons (1 1/2 teaspoons) ginger
- ¼ teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon) ground cloves
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) very hot water
Spiced Cake
- ¾ cup (170.25 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar light or dark, packed
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 3 (3) eggs beaten
- 1 ¼ cup (295.74 ml) whole milk room temperature
- 3 cups (375 g) flour
- ¾ teaspoon (3/4 teaspoon) salt
- ¾ teaspoons (3/4 teaspoons) baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon (1 1/2 teaspoon) baking powder
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoons) cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon) nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon) allspice optional*
- ¼ teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon) ground cloves optional*
Maple Icing
- 1-1 ½ cups (180 g) powdered sugar add more to achieve desired thickness
- 3 teaspoons (14.79 ml) maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (14.79 ml) 3 teaspoons milk add milk gradually til desired thickness achieved
Instructions
Gingerbread Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans and line it with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg followed by the molasses and mix until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir to combine. Slowly pour in the hot water and stir until smooth. Batter will be thin.
- Divide batter into the two prepared pans and bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and set on a cooling rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out and allow them to cool completely on the rack.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the cooled cakes in half lengthwise. Use a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many gingerbread men as possible. (I cut 8 gingerbread men out of each of the 4 parts of bread which gave me 32 gingerbread men. Set the gingerbread men aside until ready to assemble the cake.
Spice Bundt Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Very generously butter and flour a 10 cup bundt pan.
- In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer or the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, and sugars until fluffy. Blend the beaten eggs into the mixture slowly. Add the milk and dry ingredients alternately beating until smooth after each addition.
- Spoon two cups of the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan and spread it around with a spatula.
- Carefully place the gingerbread men into the pan head first by about 1/2 inch into the batter. Place them back to back so they are all touching and go around the bundt pan until it’s full of a layer of upside down gingerbread men. Spoon the rest of the batter over top and spread it evenly to cover the gingerbread men. Give the pan a sharp tap to reduce any air bubbles.
- Bake for 44-52 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or only with a few crumbs when inserted in the center or until cake springs back to the touch. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes then carefully invert onto rack and allow to cool completely.
Maple Icing
- In a medium sized bowl, sift the powdered sugar. Add the milk, maple syrup and vanilla. Use a whisk or spoon to combine. Drizzle generously over the cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
Sheena Glover
I never try new recipes just prior to the holidays but decided to give this one a try. This cake was not only cute but flavorful. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
Natalie
Ahh this makes me so happy Sheena, thank you!
Barbara Ward
I’ll be decking the halls with this amazing and delicious Holiday Bundt cake