Frosted Gingerbread Pound Cake

This frosted gingerbread recipe tastes like a classic gingerbread cookie but so soft and moist, the perfect holiday dessert recipe. It is the perfect loaf cake to serve this holiday season. It is so good and you can make it your own. 

You don’t have to top it with frosting (but why wouldn’t you?) because it is so a nicely moist and flavorful loaf cake that can stand on it’s own, but the frosting is a great topping. In fact, you might even want double the recipe so you’re willing to share it. 

Recipe Ingredient Notes

To make frosted gingerbread pound cake, you need the following ingredients:

Pound Cake Ingredients

• Butter
• Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Egg
• Applesauce
• All-purpose flour
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Ground ginger
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground cloves
• Nutmeg
• Orange Zest

Frosting Ingredients

• Cream cheese
• Vanilla extract
• Powdered Sugar
• Chopped peppermint pieces or chopped nuts

Equipment Needed

For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:

• Loaf Pan
• Zester
• 3 Mixing Bowl (Medium)
• Mixer (Hand)
• Spatula

How to Make Our Frosted Gingerbread Pound Cake

Pound Cake Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy (I used a stand mixer and mixed it for about 2 minutes. You can use an electric mixer or even do it by hand). Add in the vanilla, egg, applesauce, and orange zest (if using).
4. Slowly add in the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined (do not overmix!).
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it around evenly with a spatula or back of a spoon.
6. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the middle of the cake.
7. Place loaf on a wire rack and let it cool for about 20 minutes, then turn the loaf cake onto the wired rack and let it finish cooling.

Frosting Instructions

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and vanilla extract together using an electric mixer. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until it reaches the consistency you like (if it’s too thick, you can think it out with some milk) and it’s smooth and easily spreadable.
2. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with chopped up peppermint pieces or your favorite chopped nuts.
3. Slice and serve!

Recipe Notes

• We love topping this pound cake with some chopped peppermint candy pieces, but that is not the only option. You can also top this cake with the following: chopped almonds, chopped peanuts, chopped pecans, chopped hazelnuts, brown sugar cinnamon drizzle, or a sprinkle of cinnamon.
• One of the things I love about this recipe is that it uses applesauce instead of an oil. Not only does it make this recipe on the healthier side, but it also has some great added flavor. If you want to know more way to use applesauce in recipes, Insanely Good has a great list of easy recipes that uses applesauce. 

Enjoy More Delicious Breakfast Cakes

Some days there’s nothing we want more than a slice of chocolate cake. Check out our comprehensive list of cake recipes here.

• Blueberry Coffee Cake
• Blueberry Jamboree
• Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake
• Frosted Banana Cake
• Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Cake 
• Starbucks Copycat Lemon Pound Cake