Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Sugared Cranberries and Lemon Glaze

"Caked turned out gingerbread spicy with a great sweetness from the candied cranberries. Husband said, 'Now this is a proper Christmas cake.'" - Todd

4 Tips for a Moist and Flavorful Gingerbread Cake

If you're someone who thinks gingerbread is dry and flavorless, and mildly cardboard-like, this recipe is here to change your mind. This cake is incredibly moist and packed with deep, complex flavors.

Here are the reasons why this cake is not your typical gingerbread:

#1. The recipe uses both butter AND oil

Butter adds flavor to cakes, while oil adds moisture and helps keep cake moist for longer. While all-butter cakes have their place, they don't keep particularly well because they have a tendency to taste a bit dry after a day or two.

This is because butter is solid at room temperature. It might melt into the batter while it bakes, but it will revert back to its natural state as the cake cools. Because oil is liquid at room temperature, it keeps cakes tasting perfectly moist for days after baking. In this recipe, you get the best of both worlds - butter for flavor and oil for moisture.

#2. "Bloom" the spices in the butter and oil

In this recipe, you'll heat the butter and oil on the stovetop, then add the ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and a bit of black pepper to the warm fat.

The heat opens up the flavors in the spices. Immersing them into the fat both intensifies and rounds out the flavor of the spices while distributing them evenly throughout the cake.

#3. Blackstrap Molasses adds flavor without making the cake overly sweet

Blackstrap molasses is a byproduct of the refining process of turning sugar cane into sugar. To make granulated sugar, sugar cane is smashed to remove the juice, which is clarified, concentrated, and crystalized.

During the process, the liquid is removed and boiled, creating molasses. If the molasses is boiled and concentrated further, it turns into blackstrap molasses.

Blackstrap Molasses is rich, flavorful, and contains the lowest sugar content of any sugar cane product. In this recipe, that means adding flavor without creating an overly sweet cake.

#4. Coffee creates a deep, complex flavor

This recipe calls for ¾ cup of brewed coffee, but if you're afraid that might make the cake taste like coffee, don't worry.

The coffee simply deepens the flavors of the molasses and spices, creating complexity and an extra tender crumb. But no one will actually be able to pick coffee out as one of the flavors in the cake.

How to Bake Gingerbread Cake in a Bundt Pan

This Gingerbread cake batter is super wet and rich, giving the baked cake a delicious creamy texture that's somewhat pudding-like. When working with batters that contain a lot of moisture and fat, I've found that bundt pans often deliver the most even bake.

Because bundt cake pans contain a hole in the center, it allows the cake to bake from the inside AND the outside. This means that wet batter cakes bake more evenly, with the outside baking at the same rate as the inside of the cake. 

For this cake, I used the Nordic Ware Pine Forest Bundt Pan, one of my all-time favorite bundt pans. Even though it's non-stick, I like to spray it with a bit of non-stick baking spray and have never once had any trouble getting a cake to come out of it perfectly well. And, I just love how the white lemon glaze makes the "tree tops" look as if they are covered in snow.

An important note about this pan: The capacity is slightly smaller than traditional bundt pans. In order to make this recipe as versatile as possible, it makes about 7 cups of batter, which is what you'll need for most standard-size bundt pans.

That means that if you're using a decorative pan, like the Nordic Ware Pine Forest Bundt Pan, you'll have some batter left over.

Be sure to not fill the pan more than ¾ full and then use the leftover batter to bake a few cupcakes if you like.

How to make Sugared Cranberries

Sugared cranberries are seriously simple to make and are the perfect compliment to every single bite of gingerbread cake. Because they are simply coated in sugar, they retain all their tartness even through their sweet sugary exterior. They are a bit like sweetart candies, only much, much better.

For me, I want enough sugared cranberries on my plate to eat one with every single bite of cake. Because, I'm telling you, the tart burst of cranberry flavor along with the rich, spicy cake is positively divine.

To make sugared cranberries, simply melt some sugar in water, then add some fresh cranberries, coating them in the sugar syrup.

Spread them out onto some parchment paper and let them dry out a bit. They will stay sticky on the outside even after drying. But, if you try to coat them with sugar too soon, you'll get globs of sugar instead of a lovely even coating.

TIP: Save the leftover sugar syrup in the refrigerator for cocktails!

Then simply toss them around in a bowl of sugar until they are all sparkly and beautiful.

The cranberries will keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for at least a week. If, after a couple of days, you notice some liquid forming on the outside of the cranberries, simply toss them around in a bit more sugar.

More Favorite Holiday Dessert Recipes:

• The Perfect Spice Cake
• Individual Almond Cakes with Cranberry Sauce
• Mini Ginger Snaps with Sorghum and Brown Sugar
• Perfect Profiteroles 
• Wine Poached Pear and Almond Tart
• Lemon Ricotta Olive Oil Loaves
• 11 favorite Christmas Cookie Recipes
• Mini Butterscotch Eclairs 
• Eggnog Pots de Creme
• Cranberry Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
• Mini Cranberry Bundt Cakes with Lemon Glaze
• Mini Chai Latte Cupcakes