High altitude chocolate gingerbread cake that’s soft and moist, with cozy winter spices and a hint of molasses and coffee, frosted with fluffy vanilla buttercream. This beautiful cake looks lovely with a semi-naked coat of snowy buttercream decorated with piped evergreen trees for the Christmas holiday.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for baked gingerbread donuts with cinnamon sugar, iced chocolate gingerbread cookies, and gingerbread sheet cake with powdered sugar snowflakes.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Warm, Cozy Flavors. With ingredients like rich cocoa powder, espresso powder, molasses and lots of spices, this chocolate gingerbread cake has so much flavor that’s perfect for a cold winter night.
Moist and Soft. Based on my reader-favorite high altitude chocolate cake recipe, today’s cake is sure to be just as delicious.
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
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the cake structure and strength.
- Sugar. You’ll need both granulated sugar and dark brown sugar to add sweetness and moisture to the cake, as well as powdered sugar for the buttercream.
- Cocoa Powder. Use a good quality Dutch processed cocoa powder (not natural cocoa powder) for a rich chocolate flavor.
- Spices. A blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice adds warm and spice to complement the chocolate. You’ll also need vanilla extract, salt and instant espresso powder to enhance all the flavors.
- Baking Powder. While my original chocolate cake recipe uses both baking soda and baking powder to leaven the cake batter, today’s recipe works best with just baking powder.
- Eggs. Adds moisture and strength.
- Molasses. It wouldn’t taste like gingerbread without molasses. Use “original” molasses, not blackstrap.
- Milk + Sour Cream + Oil. All of these add moisture, richness and flavor to the cake.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray. If making half the recipe, use three 6-inch cake pans.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, salt and spices.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, molasses, milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until combined, about 15 seconds.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched, or a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine.
- Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium (#4-6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer); whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down occasionally, and only adding the milk if needed for desired consistency.Turn the speed down to “stir” and mix for 2 minutes to eliminate big air bubbles.
When I first dreamed up this chocolate gingerbread cake, I planned on decorating it in the Lambeth style, with chocolate buttercream and white vanilla buttercream piping. See my chocolate cherry Lambeth cake, black and white Lambeth cake and Christmas Lambeth cake for ideas and tutorials. In the end, I decided to pipe little trees, like the ones on my gold and green Christmas trees cake.
Assembly and Decorating
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. If the cakes have a domed top, use a sharp knife to slice off a small portion of the dome so the cakes are level when stacked.
- Place one cake layer on a cake board, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers, then frost all over with a thin “crumb coat” of buttercream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat.
- Keep the bowl of remaining buttercream covered. Frost all over with a final, swirly layer of buttercream, or leave the cake as is for a semi-naked frosted cake. For the semi-naked cake pictured, leave a few bare spots on the sides of the cake when you apply the crumb coat.
- Fit a piping bag with a coupler and tip #101 (small ruffle tip), and fill half full with buttercream. With the narrow end of the piping tip against the cake, pipe a few trees on the side and top of the cake. Add gold sprinkle rods for the tree trunks. See this gold and green Christmas tree cake for more details on this technique.
- Switch to tip #18 (small star tip), and pipe a small “shell” border around the top and bottom edge of the cake.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Cake layers can be baked in advance and frozen. While the cakes are slightly warm, wrap them individually in two layers of plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 3-6 months. Thaw completely before assembling the cake. The frosted cake can be frozen in a cake carrier or airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
I used tip #101 (small ruffle tip) for the trees and tip #18 (small star tip) for the shell border.
I used these gold sprinkle rods for the tree trunks.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Chocolate Gingerbread Cake with Vanilla 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 with Paddle Attachment
- 8-inch cake pans (x3)
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder (see recipe notes)
- 2 tbsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¼ cup molasses (original, not blackstrap)
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder, optional
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp milk, only if needed
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray. If making half the recipe, use three 6-inch cake pans.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, salt and spices.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, molasses, milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until combined, about 15 seconds.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched, or a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine.
- Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium (#4-6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer); whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down occasionally, and only adding the milk if needed for desired consistency.Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 2 minutes to eliminate big air bubbles.
Assembly and Decorating
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. If the cakes have a domed top, use a sharp knife to slice off a small portion of the dome so the cakes are level when stacked.
- Place one cake layer on a cake board, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers, then frost all over with a thin "crumb coat" of buttercream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat.
- Keep the bowl of remaining buttercream covered. Frost all over with a final, swirly layer of buttercream, or leave the cake as is for a semi-naked frosted cake. For the semi-naked cake pictured, leave a few bare spots on the sides of the cake when you apply the crumb coat.
- Fit a piping bag with a coupler and tip #101 (small ruffle tip), and fill half full with buttercream. With the narrow end of the piping tip against the cake, pipe a few trees on the side and top of the cake. Add gold sprinkle rods for the tree trunks. See this gold and green Christmas tree cake for more details on this technique.
- Switch to tip #18 (small star tip), and pipe a small "shell" border around the top and bottom edge of the cake.
What if we are not high altitude? Like flat Texas? Do you add baking soda?
Please see my FAQs: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/