For a special holiday cake for your Thanksgiving or Christmas celebration, my high altitude Coffee Ginger Cake is a real beauty. The cake is moist, tender and slightly dense, infused with espresso powder and ground ginger. I paired it with sweet molasses buttercream, since ginger and molasses are such a classic flavor combination. I sprinkled more chopped candied ginger in between each cake layer, and a little on top of the cake as well. The molasses buttercream complements the cake beautifully, and the flavor is reminiscent of a ginger molasses cookie. To top it all off, I decorated my cake with mini Stroop Wafels and chocolate leaves.
Looking for more holiday recipes? You’ll love my homemade cranberry sauce, pumpkin bourbon pie with crumb topping, and butter pecan pound cake.
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Ingredients
I make this cake using the traditional creaming method. And since there’s both butter and cream cheese in the cake batter, it’s a very moist, soft and flavorful cake, that’s rich and a little dense. After creaming together the sugar with the butter and cream cheese, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
For the dry ingredients, you’ll need to sift together cake flour, ground ginger, coarse Kosher salt, baking powder and baking soda. Sifting ensures that your dry ingredients don’t contain any lumps, so that you don’t over-mix your batter trying to get the lumps out.
For the liquid ingredients, unsweetened canned coconut milk adds richness and flavor to this coffee ginger cake, although it does not make it taste like coconut with all the other flavors happening. I dissolve the instant espresso powder into the coconut milk, to be sure that the coffee flavor is fully infused into my cake.
Add the dry ingredients to the sugar/butter mixture, alternating with the liquid ingredients, just until combined. You’ll love the smell of this cake batter while it’s baking. It’s incredible.
For the buttercream, I added rich blackstrap molasses to my standard buttercream recipe, and it makes a really fantastic buttercream that pairs beautifully with the coffee ginger cake.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease three 8-inch pans with non-stick spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter and cream cheese for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another minute.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, ginger, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Stir the espresso powder into the coconut milk to dissolve.
- With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the flour.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake until done, about 21-25minutes, then set the pans on a wire rack, covered loosely with a clean kitchen towel, until cooled completely.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- Combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, and add by spoonfuls to the mixing bowl while mixing on low.
- Add the vanilla and molasses, and whip the buttercream on medium high, scraping the bowl occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until very light and fluffy, adding a little milk, if needed, to reach the desired consistency.
- Fill and frost the cake layers, sprinkling a little chopped candied ginger in between each layer. Garnish the cake with the Stroop Wafels, chocolate leaves and more candied ginger. Dust with espresso before serving.
Decorating Ideas
- This is one of those cakes that looks gorgeous with simple, rustic swirls of buttercream. No need to try to perfectly smooth out the frosting, just swirl it here and there, and it will be beautiful.
- Since the cake contains espresso powder and ginger, I used a little bit of both to decorate my cake. A dusting of espresso powder tossed at the cake adds pretty speckles of color. Candied ginger looks pretty and sparkly, and adds sweet and spicy flavor notes.
- I found mini Stroop Wafels, and filled a few with buttercream to decorate the top of the cake. With their waffle texture and rich color, they make a beautiful and delicious decoration.
- For the chocolate leaves, I poured melted chocolate candy melts into a silicone leaf mold and let them harden. I brushed the leaves with edible gold and bronze shimmer powder, which adds such a special touch. With the chocolate leaves, the caramel colors and the fall flavors, this one is just perfect for a holiday dessert.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
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High Altitude Coffee Ginger Cake with Molasses Buttercream
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (2 oz) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups cake flour or all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp baking soda
- 1 14 oz can unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
- 3 tbsp espresso powder
Buttercream & Garnish
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp molasses (not blackstrap)
- candied or crystallized ginger, roughly chopped
- mini stroop wafels
- espresso powder
- chocolate or candy coating, melted and poured into chocolate leaf molds
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease three 8-inch pans with non-stick spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter and cream cheese for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another minute.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, ginger, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Stir the espresso powder into the coconut milk to dissolve.
- With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the flour.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake until done, about 21-25minutes, then set the pans on a wire rack, covered loosely with a clean kitchen towel, until cooled completely.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- Combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, and add by spoonfuls to the mixing bowl while mixing on low.
- Add the vanilla and molasses, and whip the buttercream on medium high, scraping the bowl occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until very light and fluffy, adding a little milk, if needed, to reach the desired consistency.
- Fill and frost the cake layers, sprinkling a little chopped candied ginger in between each layer. Garnish the cake with the Stroop Wafels, chocolate leaves and more candied ginger. Dust with espresso before serving.
Talented talented girl!!
THey all look delicious and gorgeous. I would love to know what you put between the layers in the Halloween cake.
Mini chocolate chips!