Homemade Gingerbread Loaf is soft, moist, and perfectly spiced with your favorite holiday flavors. Pair with your morning coffee, enjoy as dessert, or give as a gift.
It's that time of year again. Pull out the cinnamon, find the cloves, and buy a fresh jar of molasses. That's right - it's gingerbread season.
You'll love this homemade gingerbread loaf because it's quick and super easy to make. Plus, it gets you in the holiday spirit pronto. Who can resist the warm and cozy scent of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and molasses?
Gingerbread makes the perfect snack, morning breakfast, or dessert for fall and winter. Make a gingerbread loaf on Thanksgiving morning, Christmas eve, or for holiday movie night at home.
Prefer muffins? Try my gingerbread muffins recipe! They make a quick and easy seasonal snack.
Ingredients and substitutions
Since this is a baking recipe, I do not have many substitutions to offer. Baking is an exact science, and each ingredient serves its purpose in the recipe. I do not recommend making any substitutions that I haven't mentioned in this section!
- Unsalted butter - Make sure your butter is room temperature so that it easily incorporates with the rest of your ingredients. Unsalted butter and salt can be substituted with salted butter.
- Brown sugar - light or dark brown sugar will work in this recipe. I used light brown sugar because it's always on hand in my pantry.
- Large eggs - Allow them to come to room temperature before adding to your batter. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, fill a bowl with hot tap water, add your eggs, and allow to set for 10 minutes. Remove your eggs from the water and dry off before cracking.
- Molasses - I recommend Grandma's Original Molasses (a common brand found in grocery stores). Molasses is a must when baking gingerbread, and gives it a distinctive flavor. Light or dark molasses will work in this recipe - dark molasses gives your gingerbread a stronger flavor.
- All-purpose flour - I do not recommend substituting your flour with any other types of flour you may have on hand. AP flour has the perfect amount of structure needed for a quick bread recipe.
- Baking soda - not baking powder. They react differently in recipes and you'll need baking soda for this particular recipe.
- Spices/Extracts - you'll need vanilla extract, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. All of these ingredients work together to give your bread a well rounded flavor.
Properly measured flour
One key to successful baking is properly measuring your ingredients, including your flour. I recommend weighing your flour, or using the spoon and level method.
Spoon flour into your measuring cup, then level the top off with a knife. When scooping flour directly from the container with your measuring cup, you're compacting the flour into the measuring cup. This adds up to 25% extra flour to your recipe.
Adding extra flour to your bread can make it dry, so be sure to spoon and level your flour for this recipe!
Give as a gift
Quick bread recipes make a fantastic homemade gift. Buy a pretty loaf pan, bake a loaf of gingerbread inside, then gift away!
These Emile Henry Ruffled Loaf Pans are pretty and high quality loaf pans. The white ruffled loaf pan would look beautiful with some fresh gingerbread baked inside.
How to prevent dry bread
If your bread is dry straight from the oven, this is caused by over-baking. When baked just the right amount of time, your bread loaf will turn out soft, moist, and tender. Here are a few tips to help prevent dry bread:
- Ovens can run hot or cold. If your oven runs hot, your baked goods may be done a few minutes before what is written in the recipe.
- Use a thermometer inside your oven to make sure your oven is set to the proper temperature for any given recipe. Here's what I use: Rubbermaid Instant Read Oven Thermometer
- If your oven runs hot, try testing your bread 10 minutes earlier than suggested in the recipe card. Stick a toothpick in the center of your loaf. If the toothpick comes out dry, or with crumbs, your bread is done. If your toothpick comes out with wet batter, give your bread another 5 minutes and check again.
- Dry bread can also be caused by slicing while still hot. Slicing into piping hot bread will release extra steam from your bread loaf and cause it to dry out quickly. Allow it to cool most of the way before slicing and enjoying.
- Homemade bread will stay moist for about 3 days before it needs to be eaten, frozen, or discarded.
Homemade Gingerbread Loaf
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ cup hot water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper (or grease and flour the bottom and sides) and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. With a hand mixer (or stand mixer) on medium speed, mix until fully combined. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until creamed and fluffy, about a minute. Scrape down the sides of your bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, add molasses and hot water. Stir until combined.
- In a third bowl, whisk (or sift) together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
- To your butter mixture, add half of your dry ingredients, stirring until mostly incorporated. Then, add half of your molasses mixture, stirring until incorporated. Repeat once more, adding your remaining dry ingredients and molasses mixture. Stir until just combined (make sure not to over-mix, this can cause your bread to turn out dry/dense).
- Pour batter into loaf pan. Cover loaf pan loosely with foil (remove foil halfway through baking. This ensures that the top of your bread doesn't burn.) Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (or with crumbs).
- Transfer loaf pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before removing from pan and slicing.
- Optionally, dust with confectioner's sugar or serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Gingerbread will keep for up to 3 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature.
- Gingerbread freezes well and can be kept in the freezer for 3 months. Cover with aluminum foil and place in a freezer bag for optimal results.
- To prevent dry bread: If your oven runs hot, begin checking your bread for doneness a few minutes early. Once your bread is done baking, allow it to cool before slicing. Slicing into hot bread allows steam and moisture to escape.
- Properly measured flour ensures your bread doesn't turn out dense or dry. Use the spoon and level method, or click on 'metric' for the gram measurements and use a kitchen scale.
Can I use mini loaf pans for this gingerbread loaf recipe
Hi Dennis, yes this recipe will work in mini loaves. One regular loaf should fit into three mini loaf (3x5.5 inch) pans. Bake time would be reduced to about 30-36 minutes, or until cooked through in the center.
Can I sub orange juice for the hot water?
I haven't tested this recipe with orange juice, so I can't say for sure. Orange juice is acidic and could affect the rise of your bread. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
Easy and delicious. I live at over 5000 feet in the mountains in Mexico and when I took the foil off at 25 minutes the bread was nearly ready. I doubled the recipe and both loaves were the same. My gas oven is new and I have tested the temperature settings. Usually things take longer to cook at the higher altitude but I am not complaining. Definitely a keeper.
This recipe was so very easy to follow.
The results were delicious, I followed your recipe exactly & it came out perfect!
Will definitely make this again!!
I followed your recipe for this gingerbread loaf, it SANK in the middle and looks bad 😢what caused this?
Hi Angela, it's hard to say without being in the kitchen with you as to what happened. Quick bread sinking can be caused by a few things: underbaking, too much liquid added to the recipe, or expired leavening agents. Did you substitute any ingredients?
have you doubled this recipe? does it double well?
I have not tried doubling this recipe, so I can't say for sure. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
It doubles no problem. I always do for handing out for Christmas.
I am going to make this recipe on the weekend; however I am going to take non sugared ginger, cut it up like Christmas cake peel, use some of the flour and incorporate that into the recipe.
I'll report back
I have a question. Instead of 1/2 cup of hot water, can I also substitute that with milk (or buttermilk) just in case?
Hi Dante, I haven't tested the recipe with either, but I think that milk would work. Buttermilk would change the acidity of the ingredients, so I don't suggest it as a substitution.
Where is the button for metric measurements?
You can find the button right below the list of ingredients inside the recipe card.
Awesome recipe. Great instruction. Ive made gingerbread before but this recipe was really good - crispy perfect taste. Loved it!! Will make it again!!
Can vegetable oil be substituted for the butter? If so, what changes in the amount of salt would this substitution require?
Hi Kenneth, butter can be substituted with oil at 3/4 the amount called for. For this recipe, 1/2 cup of butter (or 8 tablespoons) can be substituted with 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Since this recipe calls for unsalted butter, no changes would be needed for the salt. Hope this helps!
I was wondering if I could bake them in small loaf bread pans? How long would I bake them?
Hi Kelly, I haven't tried this recipe in mini loaf pans myself. But it looks like mini loaves will generally bake in about 30+ minutes. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
Any suggestions on how to make it more moist? Mine was super tasty but a little on the dry side?
Hi Arleen! I'm sorry to hear your quick bread was a little dry. It could have been slightly over baked, as oven temperatures may vary. I'd suggest checking your bread starting at 40-45 minutes to see if it's done, instead of 50 minutes.
To enjoy the rest of the bread, I'd suggest reheating in the microwave, covered with a damp paper towel. Try reheating in 10 second increments until warm. This should steam the bread to add moisture. Serving with butter also helps!
Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar?
Both will work in this recipe - I used light brown sugar!
I love gingerbread! This loaf is so delicious and warming. Perfect for Christmas ♥