A high altitude recipe for soft, moist and cakey gingerbread bars, flavored with molasses and warm spices, and frosted with sweet maple icing. These iced gingerbread bars are an easy holiday dessert to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
You might also love these recipes for ginger walnut biscotti, gingerbread cake with mascarpone buttercream, and soft and chewy gingerbread cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Soft Velvety Texture. These maple glazed gingerbread bars are definitely more soft and cakey, rather than chewy like a cookie bar or blondie, although the edge pieces have some really nice crusty bits on them. The cake is dense and moist, tender enough to eat with a fork, but not so delicate that you can’t just pick up one of the gingerbread squares to eat it with your hand.
Quick and Easy. If you’re looking for an easy gingerbread bars recipe, you’ll love the simplicity of today’s dessert. The cake batter and icing comes together quickly, with no mixer needed.
Delicious with Any Flavor Icing or Frosting. While I frosted mine with maple icing, gingerbread bars with lemon glaze are fantastic, with the contrast of tart lemon and warm spices. You could also just do plain vanilla, or even a cream cheese frosting. See the Icing Variations section below for recipe ideas.
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
Cake
- Butter. To add the most incredible flavor to this cake, don’t skip the step of browning the butter first.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar and dark brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture, as well as creates the caramelized, golden brown edges on the cake.
- Molasses. A classic ingredient in gingerbread, the molasses adds a rich, deep flavor and a chewier texture.
- Eggs. Gives the cake structure and helps the batter to hold together.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Whole Milk + Sour Cream. Adds fat and moisture for a moist, tender cake.
- Flour. All-purpose flour gives the cake structure and strength.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the almonds.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the cake rises when it bakes.
- Spices. You’ll be using lots of spices today, such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and allspice. These spices will add so much flavor and warmth to complement the flavor of the molasses.
- Almond Flour. The almond flour gives the cake a moist, dense texture and nutty richness. You can also use very finely chopped almonds, pecans or walnuts (chopped in a food processor) if you don’t have almond flour.
Icing
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Meringue Powder. Helps the icing set quickly, and stay set, rather than sticky on top.
- Vanilla + Maple Extracts. Flavor.
- Milk. Thins the icing.
- Biscoff Cookie. A crumbled biscoff lotus cookie makes an easy and pretty decoration on top of the icing. You can also use a graham cracker if you don’t have biscoff cookies.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, or spray it with non-stick baking spray.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown milk solids form at the bottom of the pan. This process might take about 5-10 minutes. First the butter will hiss and splatter as the water evaporates, then as it quiets down, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter. This means the butter is done.
- Immediately remove from the heat, and scrape the butter, including the brown milk solids, into a large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the cooled brown butter with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk in the milk and sour cream, until combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and spices. Add the almond flour, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, whisking just until moistened.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 32-35 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched, or a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a wire rack, and cool for 1 hour before adding the icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the extracts and the milk, and stir until smooth.
- Immediately spread the icing over the cake, then sprinkle the crumbled biscoff cookie over the icing.
- Let cool for 2 more hours, before cutting into squares.
Icing Variations
- For vanilla icing, replace the maple extract with vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- For lemon icing, omit the maple extract. Replace the milk with lemon juice.
- For cream cheese frosting, this brown butter cream cheese frosting recipe is wonderful.
- And for one of my family’s favorite ways to eat gingerbread cake, leave it unfrosted, then serve squares with a spoonful of warm lemon curd and real whipped 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
How should I store gingerbread bars?
Store leftover bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Can I make the icing without the meringue powder?
While you can leave out the meringue powder, it does help to set the icing quickly so it’s not too soft and sticky.
Will the cake recipe work without the almond flour?
I have tested this recipe at least a dozen times with different types of finely ground nuts, such as almonds, pecans and walnuts, but I have never made it without the nuts. The nuts add moisture and give the cake a more dense, nutty texture that’s really wonderful. If you leave them out, I’m not sure what the result would be.
Can this recipe be doubled?
You can double the recipe and bake it in a 9×13 inch baking pan. The bake time will be about the same.
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High Altitude Maple Gingerbread Bars
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
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- â…” cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 tbsp light or dark molasses
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- â…” cup whole milk, room temperature
- â…“ cup sour cream
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ½ cup almond flour (or very finely chopped almonds, walnuts or pecans)
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp meringue powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp maple extract
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1 biscoff lotus cookie, crumbled (you can also use a graham cracker instead)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, or spray it with non-stick baking spray.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown milk solids form at the bottom of the pan. This process might take about 5-10 minutes. First the butter will hiss and splatter as the water evaporates, then as it quiets down, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter. This means the butter is done. Immediately remove from the heat, and scrape the butter, including the brown milk solids, into a large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the cooled brown butter with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk in the milk and sour cream, until combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and spices. Add the almond flour, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, whisking just until moistened.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 32-35 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched, or a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Set the pan on a wire rack, and cool for 1 hour before adding the icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the extracts and the milk, and stir until smooth.
- Immediately spread the icing over the cake, then sprinkle the crumbled biscoff cookie over the icing.
- Let cool for 2 more hours, before cutting into squares.
Notes
- For vanilla icing, replace the maple extract with vanilla extract.
- For lemon icing, omit maple extract. Replace the milk with lemon juice.
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