This high altitude gingerbread coffee cake is like a warm, sweet hug on Christmas morning. The cake is so soft and moist, with hints of molasses and vanilla, and just the right balance of cozy spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. A brown sugar crumble topping adds a buttery crunch, drizzled with lemon icing for the perfect sweet finish. This is a high altitude recipe that you have to make this holiday season!
Looking for more recipes like this? You’ll love this gingerbread sheet cake with powdered sugar snowflakes, baked gingerbread doughnuts, gingerbread village cake with iced chocolate shortbread.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
No Mixer Needed. You’ll only need a bowl and spoon or whisk to make the cake batter, crumb topping and icing.
Serve Warm, Great Leftover. I love a coffee cake that can be served warm from the oven, rather than having to wait hours for it to cool.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Molasses. A key ingredient in gingerbread is molasses. Just be sure to use “original” molasses, not “blackstrap”, which is too dark and strong for this recipe.
- Spices. Lots of spices add warmth, coziness and holiday flavor to your holiday baked goods. You’ll need cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
- Dark Brown Sugar. Use the darkest brown sugar you can find, rather than light brown sugar. This will add more of that molasses flavor, as well as moisture, to your coffee cake.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices.
- Separately, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, milk, sour cream, melted butter, molasses, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix just until combined. Spread the batter into the greased pan.
Crumb Topping
- In a bowl, combine all the topping ingredients until moistened and crumbly.
- Sprinkle evenly over the batter.
Bake
- Bake the cake on the center oven rack for about 35-40 minutes, until a cake tester or sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Icing
- While the cake is cooling, whisk together all icing ingredients until smooth.
- Drizzle the icing over the warm cake.
Icing Recipe Variations
There are so many different flavors of icing you could drizzle on top of gingerbread coffee cake. Here are just a few variations that I would suggest. For each of these, you can use more or less liquid, for desired drizzling consistency.
- Maple Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar + 1/2 tsp maple extract + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract + 3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- Coffee Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla extract + 3 tbsp brewed coffee
- Eggnog Bourbon Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla + 1 tbsp bourbon + 2-3 tbsp eggnog
- Vanilla Bean Icing:Â 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla bean paste + 3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the great things about this coffee cake recipe is how fantastic it is for days after baking. Kept in an airtight container, it stays soft and moist, so you can enjoy the leftover cake for breakfast all week. Re-warm individual pieces in the microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power for that just-baked texture.
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High Altitude Gingerbread Coffee Cake
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
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup molasses (NOT Blackstrap)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Streusel
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- â…“ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 ½ – 3 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices.
- Separately, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, milk, sour cream, melted butter, molasses, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix just until combined. Spread the batter into the greased pan.
Streusel
- In a bowl, combine all the topping ingredients until moistened and crumbly.
- Sprinkle evenly over the batter.
Bake
- Bake the cake on the center oven rack for about 35-40 minutes, until a cake tester or sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Icing
- While the cake is cooling, whisk together all icing ingredients until smooth.
- Drizzle the icing over the warm cake. The icing will set in a few minutes.
Notes
- Maple:Â 1 cup powdered sugar + 1/2 tsp maple extract + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract + 3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- Coffee:Â 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla extract + 3 tbsp brewed coffee
- Eggnog Bourbon:Â 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla + 1 tbsp bourbon + 2-3 tbsp eggnog
- Vanilla Bean:Â 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla bean paste + 3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- This cake is fantastic for days, staying soft and moist in an airtight container.
- To save time in the morning, I will usually bake it at night, then re-warm pieces in the microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power.
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