Healthy Gingerbread Cake

Gingerbread cake
William Shaw / Getty Images
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Total: 35 mins
Servings: 16 servings
Yield: 1 cake

There is very little that's better than the smell of gingerbread baking during the cold months—all those sweet spices are so appetizing, welcoming, and warming. Fill your kitchen with the smells of the holiday season when you bake this healthy gingerbread cake. This recipe for gingerbread is rich in flavor and moist in texture. When baked in an 8-inch square pan, a slice, or square, of this cake is only 128 calories a square.

When the cake has cooled, we like to dust the top with a little confectioners' sugar. This cake is also good served with a little bit of low-fat vanilla ice cream, or some berries—blueberries are especially good here. If you don't have buttermilk, you can always make it by using low fat milk instead. Simply add some lemon juice or a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar to the milk until it curdles. It's not the same as buttermilk completely, but it will definitely do the job as far as baking science goes.

Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

  3. Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, and baking soda in a small bowl.

  4. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, buttermilk, oil, molasses, and egg.

  5. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir well.

  6. Pour into baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.

  7. Cut into 16 squares and serve and enjoy.

How to Store and Freeze Gingerbread

This gingerbread will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days in an airtight container. It also freezes well. You can wrap individual slices or chunks of it in plastic wrap and then foil, and then store in an airtight container or a zip-close freezer bag. The gingerbread can be defrosted at room temperature or reheated directly in the oven from frozen, at about 350 F.

What's the Difference Between Gingerbread and Ginger Cake?

Gingerbread has a couple of different meanings; it can refer to gingerbread cookies, which are typically rolled out from a refrigerated dough and cut into shapes for a crispy cookie, or it can refer to a ginger cake. The latter is a soft cake or quick bread that contains many of the same flavors and ingredients as the cookies. Then there's also German gingerbread, or lebkuchen, which is different still insofar as it's a ginger cookie but the texture is soft rather than snappy or crisp.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
129 Calories
4g Fat
22g Carbs
2g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16
Amount per serving
Calories 129
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4g 5%
Saturated Fat 0g 2%
Cholesterol 12mg 4%
Sodium 63mg 3%
Total Carbohydrate 22g 8%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 15g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 36mg 3%
Iron 1mg 6%
Potassium 183mg 4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)