Spiced Gingerbread Loaf Recipe Without Molasses

This spiced gingerbread loaf recipe gets all its warmth from cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, so there’s no jar of molasses to hunt down before you bake. Every slice comes with a thick band of cream cheese frosting on top.

Save this one for slow holiday mornings or make it this weekend.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A short pantry list, with no special ingredients to track down.
  
• A hand mixer is enough – no need for the stand mixer to get involved if you don’t want to.
  
• You can bake it the day before. The loaf waits overnight, wrapped, and the frosting goes on the morning you serve it.
  
• Ten thick slices from one pan. Enough for a holiday table, or half for you and half wrapped up for a neighbor.
  
• Frosting you can see in every slice. It goes on thick enough to hold its swoops.

When and Who This Is For

This is the loaf for slow weekend mornings in December, when someone wants something sweet before anyone has decided on breakfast. If you pick up the gingerbread loaf at Starbucks every winter, this is the same idea baked at home: a spiced loaf under a thick layer of cream cheese frosting.

It’s also an easy gingerbread recipe for anyone who would rather not roll and cut cookie dough this year, since everything goes into one loaf pan.

It’s vegetarian, with butter, an egg and cream cheese in it, but it isn’t gluten free. If you need a dairy and egg free loaf for the holidays, my vegan chocolate chip Christmas zucchini bread is the one to bake instead.

Ingredients

Makes one 9×5 inch (23×13 cm) loaf, 10 slices.

For the loaf

• ½ cup unsalted butter (113 g), softened to room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (2.5 ml)
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 cup applesauce (about 245 g), preferably unsweetened
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour (about 180 g)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (about 5 g)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (about 2 g)
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (about 1 g)
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves (about 2 g)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (5 g)

For the cream cheese frosting

• 4 oz full-fat block cream cheese (113 g), softened
• ¼ cup unsalted butter (57 g), softened
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (2.5 ml)
• 1¾ cups powdered sugar (about 210 g)
• Pinch of salt

There’s no molasses in this loaf, by design, so this is a gingerbread quick bread built on spice rather than the dark, bittersweet molasses kind. Cinnamon is the biggest measure of the four spices. Use spices that still smell strong when you open the jar, since they carry all the flavor here.

Butter, egg and cream cheese should be at room temperature. Cold butter won’t cream with the sugar, and cold cream cheese leaves small lumps in the frosting. Give the butter 2 to 3 hours on the counter, or microwave it in 10 second bursts, checking each time, so it softens without melting. Margarine works as a substitute for butter, but it gives a slightly different texture and less richness.

Cream cheese. Use full-fat block cream cheese, not the spreadable kind sold in a tub. A lighter cream cheese still works, but the frosting comes out softer.

How to Make This Gingerbread Loaf

Take the butter, egg and cream cheese out of the fridge first, so they’re soft by the time you start.

1. Prepare the pan and heat the oven

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the middle. Grease a 9×5 inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan with baking spray or butter, then dust it with flour and tap out the excess. A well floured pan is crucial, because it helps the loaf come out of the pan since we’re doing it as soon as it leaves the oven.

2. Cream the butter and sugar

Beat the softened butter and sugar with a hand mixer until fully combined and a shade paler. It won’t be light and fluffy the way frosting is (it may look a bit crumbly, like damp sand), but you want to cream it thoroughly to introduce air for a lighter loaf.

3. Add the vanilla, egg and applesauce

Add the vanilla, crack in the egg, then spoon in the applesauce and beat until everything is combined. The mixture will look grainy and a little split at this point, like in the photo, but don’t worry – it smooths out once the flour goes in.

4. Add the dry ingredients

Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and baking soda together, then add them to the bowl a little at a time, beating on low after each addition. Once it’s all in, beat on high for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. The batter ends up thick enough to hold the marks of the beaters.

5. Fill the pan and bake

Scrape the batter into the pan, and spread it level with a spatula. Bake for 55 minutes, until a toothpick pushed into the very center comes out clean. Check the middle rather than the edges, because the center is the last part to set. If the top is browning faster than the inside is cooking, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the pan for the rest of the bake.

6. Make the frosting while it bakes

Beat the softened cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium-high for 2 minutes, until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and salt gradually, starting on low so the sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl, then turn the mixer up to high once it’s combined and whip for about 3 minutes, until light and airy. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the frosting until the loaf has cooled.

7. Cool the loaf completely

Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack as soon as it comes out of the oven, and let it cool completely, for at least 1 hour. A long split down the middle of the top is normal for a loaf like this, and it disappears under the frosting. Wait until the loaf is fully cool, since any warmth left in it melts cream cheese frosting and makes it slide.

8. Frost and slice

Spread the chilled frosting over the top of the loaf, swooping it with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula. Cut it into slices with a serrated knife.

Tips and Variations

• Bake it a day ahead. Wrap the cooled, unfrosted loaf and leave it on the counter overnight, then frost it the morning you serve it. The frosting can be made the day before too and kept covered in the fridge. Give it a quick stir to loosen it before spreading.
• Keep it in the fridge. Because of the cream cheese frosting, store the frosted loaf in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Butter firms up when it’s cold, so take slices out a little while before you serve them.
• Freeze it unfrosted. Slice the cooled loaf, put parchment between the slices so they don’t stick together, and freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw, then frost with a fresh batch.
• Go easy on the cloves if you’re unsure. A full teaspoon is a generous amount of the strongest spice in the mix. Start with half if cloves aren’t your favorite, or swap a little of the spice for allspice or cardamom.
• Add orange to the frosting. A little finely grated orange zest beaten into the frosting brings in some citrus, and plenty of copycat versions of the coffee shop loaf put orange in theirs.
• Stir in nuts. Chopped walnuts or pecans go into the batter just before it goes into the pan.
• Finish the top. Scatter crushed gingerbread cookies, a dusting of cinnamon or chopped candied ginger over the frosting.

Ways to Serve It

• With a gingerbread latte in the afternoon, for gingerbread in the mug and on the plate.
  
• As a gift: wrap the unfrosted loaf, pack the frosting in a small jar, and add a note to keep the frosting in the fridge and spread it on the day.
  
• After dinner as dessert, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream beside each slice.
  
• Cut into narrow fingers on a holiday dessert platter, next to the cookies.

Related Recipes

• Fall Bundt Cake Recipe with Carrots and Cream Cheese Frosting. Carrots, pecans and plenty of cinnamon in a bundt that feeds twelve, for when one loaf won’t cover the table.

• Christmas Red Velvet Bundt Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting. Cocoa, buttermilk and red sprinkles, for the middle of the Christmas dessert table.

• Gingerbread Latte Recipe. Gingerbread syrup and frothed milk over espresso, for the mug next to your slice.

Put the Kettle On

A frosted gingerbread loaf is one of the easiest ways to make an ordinary winter afternoon feel like an occasion: the kettle on, a thick slice on a small plate, warm spice under cool frosting, and most of the loaf still waiting for tomorrow. Bake it this weekend and let the cinnamon and cloves fill the kitchen while it’s in the oven. Save it to your holiday baking board on Pinterest so it’s easy to find again next December. 🎄