I suppose I could make this cake year-round since it happens to be one of my favorite desserts of the holiday season but it just seems a little weird to be eating gingerbread in July, so I end up reserving this treat for December and then I eat it about 26 times, just to get my fill for the year.
It’s simply gingerbread. Warm, moist, spicy gingerbread, topped with cinnamon whipped cream and sliced bananas. The combination is so simple yet it satisfies my every tastebud and holiday dessert pleasure. Of course, I usually have to follow it up with a snitch of dark chocolate from inside the closed pantry door but that speaks more to my dark chocolate addiction than it does to the fact that this is a non-chocolate dessert.
I love this one. I really do. While you may find the sliced bananas a strange garnish, I urge you to try it. It is unspeakably divine.
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One Year Ago: Pomegranate Cheesecake
Two Years Ago: Holiday Morning Buns
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1 cup molasses
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup very hot water
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13-inch baking pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs and molasses and blend again. Sift the dry ingredients together in a mesh strainer directly into the molasses/butter/sugar mixture and mix. Add the hot water and beat until the batter is smooth. It will be fairly thin.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don’t overbake or the gingerbread will be dry.
- Serve the gingerbread warm or cold with cinnamon whipped cream and sliced bananas, if desired.
- In a medium bowl, begin beating the whipped cream. After it starts to just slightly thicken, add the sugar and cinnamon and beat until medium-stiff peaks form.
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Lion House Recipes
Oh god… youre killing me with your recipes these days. Soon my blog is just gonna be your blog but not as good
Nothing beats the smell and taste of gingerbread! It’s like a 2-in-1 dessert. Love it!
Oh gingerbread….I must make you!
Hmmmm . . . I think I need this for breakfast this morning. Yes, it is definitely a “breakfast item”, right???
I love that you admitted to sneaking dark chocolate even after eating a fabulous dessert! That’s totally something I do and I’m glad to know I’m not alone.
How about chocolate curls on top of the bananas???
Can you believe that I’ve never had actual gingerbread? Crazy I know, but now I must try it!
mmm Love it. I always sneak into the pantry for a dark chocolate fix too.
I just made gingerbread waffles with whipped cream and bananas for dinner last night. So yummy!
Love gingerbread. I usually have it with warm lemon sauce but I think I’ll try the whipped cream and bananas next time. Thanks for the reminder of how so very good it is.
Mmmm…I love gingerbread cake with warm homemade applesauce on top and the whipped cream…never tried bananas.
i LOVE cinnamon whipped cream!
I love this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing. My girls loved it!
I have been searching and searching for a recipe like this. In the form of a cake instead of bread. Thank you so much for sharing. Gingerbread is my all-time holiday favorite too. I know what I’m making for Christmas.
I have this recipe and love it! It is such comfort food to me. I love gingerbread so much we served it at our wedding, because yes, we were crazy enough to get married a week before Christmas. I am so looking forward to trying the cinnamon whipped cream. Honestly, I am going to go to bed with visions of gingerbread dancing in my head. Mmmmmmm!
Thanks, Kathy!
I made some gingerbread last night, so naturally I had it for breakfast this morning! But, I topped mine with whipped cream & blackberries! OH, it was so yummy! I might sneak some more once the kids are in bed!
in my opinion, gingerbread needs something to help it along. bananas? i’d give ‘em a shot. and cinnamon whipped cream definitely helps.
One of my favorite things to bake is Mollasses Crinkles and oddly enough I have never made cake with it. Trying this one!!! It may be a new fave.
I must confess…I have never had gingerbread! I know!
That is going to change this holiday season, because if you say it is amazing I am trying it! 
I made this tonight and it is divine! I trusted you on the bananas and boy I’m glad I did. Loved it.
Thanks, Tami!
I just made this for a Christmas party and it was a definite hit! Not too heavy, spices were excellent, overall awesome dessert.
Thanks, Jessica – glad this was a hit!
This was yummy! We made it tonight quickly and it was gone even faster!!
This sounds YUMMY! Do you think I could either a) halve the recipe and make it in a square pan, or if not b) do you think it’d freeze well? I want to make it tonight, but it would be dangerous for me to have a 9 x 13 pan around the house all week
Jessica – yes, I think you could probably get away with halving the recipe and baking it in an 8X8-inch pan. Just watch the baking time – you may need to cook it for a few less minutes.
I made this into a trifle for a Christmas party, layering cubed gingerbread, bananas and the cinnamon whipped cream. It was fantastic! It looked really pretty as well. Thanks for another great recipe!
Kat – what a fantastic idea! I love trifles…and to use this gingerbread is brilliant. I’m thinking your idea may grace our Christmas Eve dinner!
So I didn’t now there was a difference and I bought blackstrap molasses. I just read online that I can use 1/2 a cup of that and 1/2 a cup of light corn syrup to equal regular. Do you think that will work? I made it already once without knowing and it was too strong
Gracie – I think the substitution you found online should work fine to dilute the strong flavor of the blackstrap molasses. I hope it works out better this time!
No molasses so I used golden syrup and added some finely chopped crystalised ginger and grated 99% chocolate (which is ridiculously inedible on it’s own). Delicious little morsels which when eaten with chocolate chai tea creates a taste bomb in my mouth!
Am going to try Kat’s trifle idea with the little I have leftover…
bdubz – thanks for adding your variations to this recipe. Love the addition of the bitter, grated chocolate!
This recipe is one of my favorites. I’ve been making it for years. This year I tried your cinnamon whipped cream, and it is the perfect touch! I made it for two different get togethers this holiday and got rave reviews. Thanks!
Danielle – glad the cinnamon whipped cream made your classic even better!
I never comment on food blogs. I don’t like gingerbread. This cake has caused me to make those two statements false. I loved this cake SO much that I had to comment and tell you! Thanks! The cinnamon whipped cream will be going atop my pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving!
I have just found heaven! I LOVE to try new recipes. I love to cook wonderful meals for my family…and quite often they turn into a major production. So, in trying to conjure up another great menu, I found your site. My mouth has been watering the entire time! I should probably just make a short-cut to you. Thank you so much. I cannot wait to get started…again.
This recipe sounds so good. Can it be made in a muffin pan instead? If so how long would you recommend baking them? Thank you!
Lauren – I’ve never made this in muffin form so you would have to be the guinea pig and experiment. I’d recommend checking them after about 12-14 minutes of baking.
[...] Jeffrey tells the Penderwicks, “Churchie makes great gingerbread and wants everyone to come eat it.” Make Gingerbread. [...]