Gingerbread Layer Cake With Mascarpone Cream

Name: Gingerbread Layer Cake With Mascarpone Cream
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 3 h 10 min
Total time: 3 h 25 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 3/4 cup/180 milliliters vegetable oil, plus more for the pan; 2 1/4 cups/288 grams all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons ground ginger; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal); 3/4 teaspoon baking powder; 3/4 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 packed cup/220 grams dark brown sugar; 1/2 cup/120 milliliters molasses; 1/2 cup/120 milliliters honey; 2 large eggs; 3/4 cup/180 milliliters plain whole milk yogurt (not Greek); 2 cups/475 milliliters heavy cream; 1 cup/8 ounces mascarpone cheese; 1/2 cup/105 grams powdered sugar; 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract

By Samantha Seneviratne

Published Nov. 13, 2024

Gingerbread Layer Cake With Mascarpone Cream — Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.

Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes, plus about 2 hours’ cooling
Rating: 5(160)
Comments: Read comments

This moist gently spiced cake would be delicious on its own but slathered with an extra-creamy mascarpone frosting it becomes divine, each cutting the richness of the other in just the right way. A classic cream cheese frosting would also be good, adding a slight tang to the overall cake. Be sure to use regular, unsulphured molasses. Blackstrap molasses is too strong for most baking and its use will result in a dense, unpleasant cake. For easy cleanup, measure the vegetable oil before the molasses and honey — the residual oil should help the sticky ingredients slide out with ease.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 servings

For the Cake

¾cup/180 milliliters vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
2¼cups/288 grams all-purpose flour
2teaspoons ground ginger
1½teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
¾teaspoon baking powder
¾teaspoon baking soda
½teaspoon ground cardamom
¼teaspoon ground cloves
1packed cup/220 grams dark brown sugar
½cup/120 milliliters molasses
½cup/120 milliliters honey
2large eggs
¾cup/180 milliliters plain whole milk yogurt (not Greek)

For the Frosting

2cups/475 milliliters heavy cream
1cup/8 ounces mascarpone cheese
½cup/105 grams powdered sugar
1tablespoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cake: Oil three 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment. Lightly oil the parchment.
Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and cloves.
Step 3
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, molasses, honey, eggs and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and, using a large whisk, mix them into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Step 4
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of each cake layer and flip them out onto a rack to cool completely.
Step 5
Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the heavy cream, mascarpone, powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste until stiff peaks form.
Step 6
Transfer one cake layer to a serving plate. Top with about 1½ cups frosting, spreading it in an even layer but leaving a 1-inch border. Top with another cake layer and another 1½ cups frosting. Top with remaining cake layer and frosting. (Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days but allow to come to room temperature to serve.)

Ratings

5 out of 5

160 user ratings

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Comments

jillian7 months ago

Love ginger cakes, this is a good one to rotate in because it’s lighter (for a more intense ginger cake The Marrow’s one by Melissa Clark is great). I baked this cake in three 6” rounds and each layer had a lot of height. Stacked the layers with the frosting right before hosting a dinner party and about 3/4 through the party the cream warmed up and the top two layers slid off, took out a wine glass and splatted on the floor. We checked for glass shards and ate it anyway — delicious

conehead7 months ago

Every ginger cake is enhanced by 1-2 tsp ground white pepper.

Just another reader7 months ago

I can’t wait to make this with lemon cream cheese frosting. It will be perfect as my Thanksgiving Day birthday cake!

S. T.5 months ago

I didn’t have the time or energy to make a layer cake, so I prepared this recipe (nearly) as is and made a sheet cake. So good, and all the ease I was looking for! I used more honey than molasses because of what I had on hand, and that’s the only change I made to ingredients or technique. And I used really nice fresh spices from diaspora. It’s intoxicating. It will also be more forgiving to the frosting since it doesn’t have to stack. Keeper!

Kate5 months ago

I added an extra half teaspoon or so of ginger. Extraordinary cake—delicious and beautiful.

Chelsey5 months ago

I loved this cake! But I think when I make it next year, I’m going to add orange zest to the cake batter. And I’d like to use a little more mascarpone in the frosting. The frosting was a tad runny, and more of a mascarpone flavor would be nice. So good overall though!

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