Molasses Cake

This old-fashioned molasses cake is just one of the many molasses-based recipes we have on Taste of Home. It’s simpler than most, taking only a few minutes to put into the oven, and it’s a very frugal recipe. Aside from an egg, everything else in the bowl is a durable, long-lasting pantry item.

That’s the beauty of molasses. In the days before sugar was cheap and widely available, molasses was the working person’s main sweetener (especially in the Northeast). It’s still a fine ingredient for baking, with its bold color and distinctive flavor, and this cake makes a good showpiece for its virtues.

Molasses Cake Ingredients

• Butter: Almost all cakes require at least a small amount of fat, to soften and enrich their texture. The amount of butter used here is small, but it’s enough to do the job.
• Sugar: Sugar plays only a small part in sweetening the cake, but creaming it with the butter contributes to the cake’s light texture.
• Egg: The egg helps the wet and dry ingredients blend with the butter, and its protein also contributes to the cake’s structure. You’ll want to start with a room-temperature egg here.
• Molasses: Molasses is both the cake’s primary sweetener and its main flavoring. It’s also acidic enough to react with the baking soda, giving the cake its rise.
• Flour: All-purpose flour is necessary to give the cake its structure and crumb.
• Baking soda: Baking soda is the cake’s leavening agent, reacting to the acidity in the molasses to create tiny bubbles that lighten the batter.
• Ginger and cinnamon: Ground ginger and cinnamon complement the complex flavor of the molasses beautifully, as most warm spices do.
• Whipped topping (optional): A dollop of whipped topping is optional, but it makes each slice of cake look and feel more appealing.

Directions

Step 1: Combine the wet ingredients

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Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until they’re crumbly, about two minutes. Beat in the egg and molasses.

Step 2: Add the dry ingredients

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In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt until they’re well combined. Add this dry mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the water, mixing well after each addition.

Step 3: Bake the cake

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Transfer the batter to a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let the cake cool on a wire rack. Garnish each serving with whipped topping, if desired.

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Molasses Cake Variations

• Substitute sorghum: If you live in the South, or can order sorghum syrup online, it makes an interesting substitution for molasses (it’s sometimes called “sorghum molasses”). It has a milder and subtler flavor than molasses, with a hint of something resembling maple. You can substitute it 1-to-1 for the molasses.
• Add some fruit: While this ginger molasses cake is good just as it is, adding a bit of fruit can elevate it. Given the autumnal flavor of the cake itself, diced apples or pears make an excellent addition. So would dried apples, chopped dates, candied citrus or raisins, especially if the raisins are plumped first in the hot water. You may need to top up the water afterward, but it will retain some of the raisin flavor and add it to the cake.
• Crank up the flavors: Ginger and cinnamon are good with anything molasses-flavored, but so are warm spices in general. Consider adding in some extra spices, such as cloves, nutmeg and allspice, or something more exotic like cardamom or even coriander. Cardamom has an intriguing pine-and-camphor flavor, while coriander’s floral and slightly citrusy notes are more subtle. Either one adds interest and a bit of novelty to your baked goods.

How to Store Molasses Cake

Your molasses cake will do fine at room temperature, as long as it’s under a cake dome or transferred to a container with a tight-fitting lid to keep it from drying out. It helps to press wax paper or some other wrapping material directly to the cut edge of the cake, to prevent the exposed surface from hardening.

How long will this cake keep?

Most cakes are best within three or four days of being baked. One effect of using molasses in cake is that it helps the cake stay moist, so you’ll get an extra day or so with this specific recipe. If you keep the cake in your fridge, in a tightly sealed container, you can stretch that to a week or more.

Can I freeze molasses cake?

Yes, like most cakes, this cake freezes well. The lack of icing or glaze makes it easy, as well. Freeze a whole or half cake, or individual portions, as you see fit. It’s best to freeze the cake first on a parchment-lined sheet pan, then wrap it and pack the portions into freezer bags or containers. The cake will keep for several months in the freezer, depending how well it’s wrapped, but will be at its best during the first one to three months.

Molasses Cake Tips

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How is this different from gingerbread cake?

Truthfully, they’re pretty similar. The ingredients and methodology are much the same, if you compare this recipe with Taste of Home‘s gingerbread cake recipes. Mostly it’s a question of how much spice you use. This molasses cake recipe calls for only 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger, while gingerbread cake often calls for a full teaspoon of each. Some recipes may also include finely grated fresh ginger or candied ginger, for some extra oomph.

Is pan spray enough to keep the cake from sticking?

It should be, and usually is, but some pans are more prone to sticking than others. If your 9-inch pans fall into that category, consider using a baking spray rather than a pan spray. They’re much the same, but a bit of flour is incorporated into the baking spray for added nonstick power. Alternatively, you could go old-school and just grease and flour your pans the traditional way.

What can I serve with this cake, other than the whipped topping?

There are lots of choices, depending how fancy you want to get. Just upgrading from whipped topping to real whipped cream is a good starting point. Caramel sauce is good on a cake like this, and so are caramelized apples or pears. You can also never go wrong serving warm molasses cake with vanilla ice cream, or better yet, your own homemade pumpkin ice cream.