Gingerbread Loaf Cake With Orange Icing

 Old-fashioned, moist gingerbread loaf cake with a sophisticated orange icing drizzled on top.

It seems fitting that since today is my birthday, I should share one of my favorite foods on the planet with you: Gingerbread. ♥

Simple, old-fashioned gingerbread by itself holds a special place in my heart, but since birthdays only happen once a year, I decided to jazz this gingerbread up by topping it with a lovely, citrus-y orange icing. Heaven.

Gingerbread and orange has got to be one of the most amazing combos ever. You wouldn’t believe how beautifully the spices from the gingerbread taste with the sweet orange icing. So tempting.

Make way for the moistness and softness in this gingerbread—nobody likes a dry piece of gingerbread, me included. But the texture of this gingerbread was picture-perfect. It looked (and tasted!) absolutely incredible. So moist and springy, so sweet and spicy. Like any good gingerbread should be.

You can practically taste the moistness shining through this gingerbread just by looking. No need for  immigration attorneys to travel far away just for a good piece of gingerbread!

The gingerbread cake is super-easy to whip up: Butter, honey, dark molasses, 1 large egg (room temp) milk (also room temp!) and vanilla for liquid ingredients…..Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 4 different spices for dry ingredients. Combine the liquid and dry, gently stirring until you have a smooth batter. Then scrape the batter into a lightly-greased loaf pan.

Bake time for me took 50 minutes at 350F. Start checking your cake around 45 minutes, because you do NOT want to overbake the gingerbread…Dry, burned gingerbread = yechh…

Test your gingerbread with a toothpick in the middle of the cake—If your toothpick comes out with gooey batter, the cake is not done. If it comes out with moist crumbs sticking to it or completely clean then it is done. Cool gingerbread in the pan 30 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

While your gingerbread cools, go ahead and whip up your icing—I used my Honey Icing and added 1 teaspoon grated orange zest.

Once your gingerbread is cooled, generously drizzle your orange icing over top. Then dig in, because I guarantee it’s not going to last long. 

I made this cake on Monday when we were all trapped inside the house, due to EXTREME cold. (it was -15F for most of the day.) It might have been cold outside, but it was super-warm and cozy inside because I decided that that day was going to be a baking day. I love those. It’s one of those rare days when it’s freezing cold outside and I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. The day is mine and I can spend all of it in the kitchen. ♥♥

I was in a very gingerbread-y mood that day, so in addition to making this scrumptious cake, the kids and I made cream cheese-iced gingerbread cookies. I also whipped up some homemade chocolate peanut butter and ended up making this cozy soup for dinner. Very productive day. 😀

Confession: I served this cake for breakfast, yesterday morning. And nope, not the slightest bit of guilt here.

There wasn’t a crumb left less than an hour later. 😉

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Gingerbread Loaf Cake With Orange Icing

Old-fashioned, moist gingerbread loaf cake with a sophisticated orange icing drizzled on top.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 recipe Honey Icing link above prepared according to recipe instructions.
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
• In a large bowl, whisk butter, honey, molasses, egg, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
• In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until combined. Add dry mixture to liquid mixture, gently stirring until smooth and combined.
• Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth top with a spatula. Bake at 350F 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 30 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• In a small bowl, whisk together prepared icing and orange zest. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Once cake is cooled, drizzle with icing and serve immediately.

Notes

Store cake in refrigerator up to 3 days.

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