Old-Fashioned Iced Gingerbread
“Old-fashioned gingerbread loaf recipe! Easy to make with simple ingredients.”
Watch me make this old-fashioned gingerbread loaf from start to finish!
Are you a gingerbread fan? It seems most people I talk to either love it or hate it. I think I’m somewhere in between. I’ll eat it if it’s there, but I usually don’t go out of my way to make it.
I spend more time making it for other people who are dedicated gingerbread fans.
This year, however, I’ve been on a real gingerbread kick. I guess I’m getting old because I never understood how my grandmother enjoyed things like gingerbread when I was younger.
This old-fashioned gingerbread loaf recipe is one that I found in my grandmother’s old Southern Living Cookbooks. It’s full of molasses flavor, but I did adjust the spices to my liking and throw in some buttermilk for good luck.
It still has that classic, down-home gingerbread flavor and aroma that will have your entire home smelling all merry and Christmasy!
Now let’s make something clear because I don’t want you cussing me out when you go to make this gingerbread and expect to sink your teeth into some cake.
This gingerbread is gingerBREAD. Like a quick bread-bread. Like the old-fashioned kind, not the kind you eat at Starbucks. Not that I’ve ever had Starbucks version, but I’m willing to bet it’s more like a gingerbread cake.
This old-fashioned gingerbread is lightly sweetened, tender, moist and dense!
Don’t skip the glaze!! It’s a must and makes it oh so lovely paired with the spices!
Throw some vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce on top, and I’m a happy girl! Or a nice sprinkling of powdered sugar and a steaming mug of coffee would lift my skirt for sure!
Feel free to adjust the spices to your liking. Some people like it SPICY with lots of cloves, black pepper, and ginger. I’m not one of those people. I prefer a stronger cinnamon-ginger taste, so if you’re with me, you’ll enjoy this recipe!
It truly has all of those holiday feels!
Get the Recipe: Old-Fashioned Gingerbread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup molasses, <g class="gr_ gr_269 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling" id="269" data-gr-id="269">unsulfured</g>
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon clove
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- GLAZE
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk or coffee cream
- splash of vanilla extract or maple extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grease and flour a 9 x 5 glass loaf pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl cream together brown sugar, butter, and oil.
- Mix in egg and vanilla extract.
- Mix in molasses. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, thoroughly.
- Whisk in cinnamon, clove, and ginger.
- Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredient, alternating with the water and buttermilk.
- Stir just until flour is combined. (do not over stir or bread will not be fluffy)
- Pour into prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Bake on middle rack for 55-60 minutes ( or until cake tester inserted in center comes on with moist crumbs clinging to it)
- Remove from oven and let cool in pan until warm (bread will continue cooking as it cools so be careful not to overbake
- Once the pan is warm, remove bread and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
- To make the glaze, combine all glaze ingredients until silky.
- Drizzle glaze over completely cooled bread and allow to set before serving.
- Store in an airtight container.
Video
Loved this! Easy to make and delicious. My husband really liked it. Good flavor.
Made this many times and it’s always amazing, flavour and texture-wise! I also use coconut sugar and a gluten-free flour blend instead of normal sugar and flour, and somehow I like it even more! I’ve been making it for the past 2 years
Absolutely delicious!! I’m so happy about how flavourful and moist this loaf turned out! Last year I was going to make this but ended up following another recipe, and it was quite disappointing! I swore I would make yours this year and as expected it turned out amazing!! I enjoy the depth of the molasses flavour combined with the spices, and I honestly did not feel it needed added sweetness, I even think the glaze on top could be left out, I’d love to try to make a cream cheese frosting on this!
As an update: I tweaked the recipe to make it healthier, gluten free and refined-sugar free!! Because I’m basically making it every week now lol
And it worked beautifully! Here are the substitutions I made:
-Coconut sugar instead of brown sugar (but I also increased the molasses by a little)
-coconut oil instead of other vegetable oils
-gluten free flour blend (bob’s red mill) instead of regular all purpose flour
-kefir instead of buttermilk because that’s what I had, but they are interchangeable
It came out perfect!! It still stays moist for soooo long and the consistency is amazing even with healthier ingredients!!
This is one of the best recipes I’ve ever made. It’s so delicious and I’m making it every Christmas from now on!
I LOVE this recipe! I made it on it’s own and it’s to die for and I’ve also used it as half of a gingerbread/eggnog swirl loaf cake. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Hi, I am planning to make these as Christmas gifts for my family this year! Please forgive what might be a silly question, but is the ginger used ground ginger or freshly grated? I’m assuming ground since it’s part of the dry ingredients, but I don’t want to make a mistake! Thanks!