Pumpkin Gingerbread Loaf Cake
A combination of gingerbread flavors and pumpkin puree creates a sweet-and-spiced cake that sings with fall flavors.Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature before you start mixing, or the batter won’t come together smoothly and your cake will be flat.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Gingerbread Loaf Cake
- 113 grams unsalted butter, room temperature (½ cup, at room temp)
- 200 grams brown sugar
- 2 large eggs (at room temp)
- 200 grams sour cream or greek yogurt (1 cup, whole fat preferred)
- 113 grams pumpkin puree (room temp)
- 80 grams molasses
- 240 grams all-purpose flour (2 cups)
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ tablespoon ground ginger
- 1½ tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon whole nutmeg (freshly grated)
- 50 grams ginger snap cookies (approx 6 cookies)
- cinnamon sugar blend (optional, for topping)
Cream cheese icing
- 60 grams brick-style cream cheese (softened)
- 30 grams unsalted butter
- 50 grams powdered sugar
- 10 grams whole milk (you may need a bit more)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 9x5" loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Mise en place. Bring butter and eggs and liquid ingredients to room temperature.Combine greek yogurt, molasses, and pumpkin puree in a medium bowl or large liquid measuring cup. Mix well and set aside.In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.Chop or break ginger snap cookies into shards roughly the size of a nickel or dime and set aside.
- Creaming. Cream butter and brown sugar together with a mixer on medium-high speed until aerated and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Pause and scrape the bowl and mixer paddle down 2-3x times to ensure even mixing.
- Eggs. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 60 seconds on medium-high speed and scraping down the bowl after each addition. The mixture should be quite pale and airy.
- Alternate dry and wet ingredients. Add one third of the flour mixture to bowl. Run the mixer on low just until the flour incorporates. Scrape down the bowl, then add half of the pumpkin puree mixture. Run the mixer on low just until combined. Scrape down the bowl, then repeat — dry, wet, dry — always mixing on the lowest speed possible.
- Add cookies. When there are just a few streaks of visible flour in the batter, pause the mixer and scrape the paddle clean into the bowl. Add the ginger snap cookie shards and use a spatula to fold the mixture together until the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix!
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Top with cinnamon sugar (optional). Bake at 350°F for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If using a thermometer, you're targeting 190°-200°F.
- Cool. Remove the pan from the oven. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Cream cheese icing
- Beat soft butter and cream cheese together in a bowl. Add sifted powdered sugar and beat on low until combined, then increase speed and beat for 60 seconds or until fluffy.
- Add milk 1 teaspoon at a time, beating well between additions until desired consistency is reached.
- Once the cake is completely cooled, pour icing on top of the cake and use a mini offset spatula to spread it out in an even layer.
RECIPE NOTES
- If your loaf appears to be browning too quickly after 50 minutes, tent a sheet of aluminum foil over the loaf and continue baking.
- This recipe can also be baked in a 9-10 cup bunt pan for 50-55 minutes at 350°F.
- Adapted from King Arthur Baking's Chai Spiced Pound Cake recipe.
- Time given for getting ingredients to room temperature is an estimate — some ingredients may need more or less time, depending on what method you use. See blog post for tips!
- You can make this cake up to 5 days ahead of time. Store it wrapped tightly in the fridge. Add the icing shortly before you plan to serve it. You can also store the cake back in the loaf pan with the icing on it. It's a little messy to transfer the iced cake back into the pan, but I did this a few times while recipe testing and the icing helped seal the cake and prevent it from drying out. It stayed moist and flavorful for 4 days! You can make the cream cheese icing up to 7 days in advance. Cover tightly and store in the fridge. Microwave in 7-second bursts, stirring between, until it's just loose enough to pour and spread on the cake.