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Gingerbread sheet cake cut into squares and decorated with powdered sugar snowflake stencils.

High Altitude Gingerbread Sheet Cake with Powdered Sugar Snowflakes

Heather Smoke
This moist and subtly spiced gingerbread sheet cake is served simply with whipped cream and stenciled with powdered sugar snowflakes.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings12

Equipment

  • 9x13 baking pan

Ingredients
 

Cake

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 2 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
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 ¾ cups whole or lowfat buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 ¾ cups dark brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 3 large eggs
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream

  • 1 ½ cups cold heavy whipping cream
  • 3 tbsp powdered sugar (plus extra for the snowflake stencils)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick baking spray.
  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
  • Separately, whisk together the buttermilk, brown sugar, eggs, melted butter, oil and vanilla.
  • Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, and whisk just until combined and mostly smooth, and pour the batter into the pan.
  • Bake the cake on the center oven rack for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
  • Cool the cake for at least 1-2 hours and serve warm, or cool completely to serve at room temperature.

Whipped Cream

  • In a bowl, combine the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla.
  • Use an electric mixer to whip the cream until thick and fluffy.

Snowflake Stencils

  • The bottom of the cake will look a little smoother than the top, so set a cutting board over the pan and turn the cake out onto the cutting board, so the bottom is facing up.
  • Cut the cake into 12-16 squares.
  • Take your snowflake stencils, position a stencil over a piece of cake, and dust with powdered sugar. Carefully lift the stencil off, and shake the excess sugar off the stencil. Repeat with the remaining pieces of cake.
    Stenciling the pieces of cake individually will result in a prettier presentation, so each piece of cake gets a snowflake centered right on top.
  • Serve the cake with the whipped cream.

Notes

  • The cake will stay moist and fresh for 4-5 days, stored in an airtight container.
  • The moisture of the cake will cause the powdered sugar to melt as it's stored, which is totally normal.  To avoid this, just add the powdered sugar right before serving, or use "non-melting" powdered sugar.
  • I used a very dark brown sugar, which gave my cake a nice dark color.  If your brown sugar is not very dark, add 2 tablespoons dark molasses or blackstrap molasses.
Keyword Cake, Christmas, Gingerbread, High Altitude, Snowflakes
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