Moist Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting

We’re not only elbow deep in Chewy Snickerdoodles  and Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, but we’re baking up plenty of this Moist Gingerbread Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting.

This gingerbread is ultra comforting, tender, and generously loaded with all your favorite holiday tastes. It’s not shy on the ginger, molasses, and delicious spices. We’ve even added a couple of surprise ingredients to maximize the season’s flavors.

Not to mention the 200% irresistible four-ingredient cream cheese frosting that takes this gingerbread loaf over the top in yumminess…

Gingerbread Key Ingredients

The dry ingredients for this gingerbread are simple but aplenty. We’ve doubled up on the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves for the ultimate aromatic experience. It’ll smell like you live in The Gingerbread House.

Combine that with beautiful molasses, brown sugar, and maple syrup. We swapped out half the typical amount of molasses and replaced it with secret ingredient maple syrup so the molasses doesn’t overwhelm. You get the best of both worlds: maple and molasses combined. We also opted for coconut oil for tender moistness and added another secret ingredient – warm apple cider.

With all that goodness melding together, you know this gingerbread loaf’s gonna sparkle like she deserves to.

Incredible Cream Cheese Frosting Makes Gingerbread Even Better

But we don’t stop there. We take it a bit further because this lovely gingerbread loaf is getting dressed up.

Make it a gazillion times more irresistible by glazing on this totally easy four-ingredient cream cheese frosting.  We’re so into this luscious frosting, we lather it on pretty much everything we can find for it.

This cream cheese frosting is the bee’s knees and important to this gingerbread situation. You’ll get extra big smiles from your peeps when you provide extra cream cheese frosting on the side to spread onto slices as they eat. I know this from experience

Here’s to all the kitchens buzzing with warm gingerbread loaves and homemade gingerbread biscotti this season.

Enjoy.

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Moist Gingerbread Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

5 from 12 ratings

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This Moist Gingerbread Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting loads all your favorite holiday flavors into one delicious bread. The festive flavors of ginger, molasses, and spices give this moist loaf an irresistible aroma.

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

1x2x3x

• ⅔ cup brown sugar, tightly packed
• ⅔ cup coconut oil, melted/liquid
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 ¼ cup warm apple cider
• ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
• ½ cup real, mild molasses
• 2 ½ cups flour, sifted
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp table salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese, very soft
• 3 TB salted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar, depending on desired level of sweetness
• Optional: toasted chopped pecans for topping

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F with rack on lower middle position. Generously grease a deep, nonstick 9" loaf pan. Flour bottom/sides of pan and tap out excess. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, coconut oil, beaten egg, cider, maple syrup, and molasses. Use a hand whisk to combine until fully incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, use hand whisk to gently stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Use rubber spatula to gently fold dry ingredients in small increments at a time, into wet ingredients just until combined and most lumps are gone; do not over stir it (some tiny lumps remaining are fine.)
• Evenly distribute batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake about 60 minutes or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean, with a few crumbs attached. Take care not to overbake. The center may be slightly indented, which is normal. Allow loaf to cool completely before removing and frosting.
• Meanwhile, make the Cream Cheese Frosting: In a bowl with hand whisk, whisk together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla. Add confectioners' sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth. Cover and set aside at moderate room temp (or chill) until ready to use. If you chill it, be sure to let it soften enough before using it.

Notes

To measure flour, be sure to gently scoop and scrape; this helps to avoid over measuring. I sometimes like to sub with "white whole wheat" flour, as it's milder than whole wheat but still utilizes whole grains.
Warm apple cider helps prevent the melted coconut oil from solidifying while stirring.
No matter how many variations I've baked, gingerbread is notorious for coming out slightly depressed in the center; just use frosting to cover up the imperfections 🙂

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Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 593kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 772mg | Potassium: 194mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 548IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 2mg

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Method: Bake, Mixing

It’s the most Ginger time of year

1. Gingerbread Biscotti

2. Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes (+Giveaway)

3. Chewy, Soft Ginger Cookies

4. Easy Ginger Pear Sangria Recipe