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Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe

Last Updated On: February 23, 2024 | Published: November 01, 2018 by Melissa Diamond | 25 Comments
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'Tis the season for snuggling up with a warm and spicy Gingerbread Latte, and as it turns out, it's also the season for snuggling up with a slice of this AMAZING new Gingerbread Latte Cake!

This Gingerbread Latte Cake recipe is the best! It has the perfect balance of gingerbread an espresso flavor!

The Perfect Combination

We have always been huge fans of gingerbread, and we have two fabulous versions of Gingerbread Cake in our recipes section (a scratch gingerbread cake as well as a doctored gingerbread cake mix recipe ) -BUT, last week I had my first gingerbread latte and realized that I had been missing out on a flavor match made in heaven! We had to make this drink in cake form!

In this recipe, we've incorporated coffee into moist and delicious gingerbread cake layers, which we've also glazed with an espresso syrup and frosted with a luscious Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting. SO good!

You would think from my description that the coffee may overshadow the gingerbread flavor, but it really is the perfect balance of both.

Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe from scratch

Most of the espresso flavoring comes from the glaze as well as the espresso cream cheese frosting, but I do really like the hint of coffee in the cake layers as well.

We hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as we have!  Gingerbread Latte Cake would be perfect for any fall or winter occasion.

Recipe FAQs

Yes, because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake should be refrigerated. However, for the very best flavor and texture, bring it to the kitchen counter a couple of hours before serving. This will allow time for the cake and frosting to warm and soften.

Yes, just as with the majority of our cakes from orange cake to strawberry cake, white chocolate cake and more, these layers freeze beautifully.

After baking the layers, allow them to cool down until just slightly warm (or room temperature). Wrap individually in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. They will stay fresh for up to three months.

To thaw, move the wrapped layers to the kitchen counter. Unwrap after 30-45 minutes and continue to thaw to desired amount for assembling and decorating the cake.

We have many other spiced cakes! We especially love these recipes in the fall and winter. Some of our favorites are our Applesauce Spice Cake, Pumpkin Spice Cake, Gingerbread Bundt Cake, and Gingerbread Cake from Cake Mix!

Thanksgiving and Winter Cakes

If you are on the hunt of even more ideas for Thanksgiving or Christmas, or just cozy seasonal recipes in general, make sure to check out our Fall & Thanksgiving Cakes as well as our Winter & Christmas Cakes for inspiration.

This Gingerbread Latte Cake with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting is amazing!

More Spiced & Coffee Flavored Cakes

Love all things Spiced, Coffee flavored, or both? Here are a few other recipes for you to place on your "Must-Make" List! Some of our favorites are Spice Cake, Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake, and Pumpkin Spice Cake .

Here are a few more cakes with coffee:

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Make sure to check out our full collection of cake recipes as well as free cake decorating tutorials! You'll find cake recipes from scratch, cake mix recipes, as well as cake designs for birthdays, baby shower cakes, elegant cakes, and more.

Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe

Gingerbread Latte Cake Recipe

BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist and delicious Gingerbread Latte Cake has the perfect balance of gingerbread and espresso flavor! This is the perfect choice for fall and winter holidays & entertaining!
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 1 ½ cups white sugar (300g)
  • 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened (170g)
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
  • 3 cups all purpose flour (375g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda (5g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger (4g)
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (6g)
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg (1g)
  • 1 cup hot water (236g)
  • 1 ½ teaspoon instant espresso granules or 2 teaspoons (4g) instant coffee (3g)
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil (65g)
  • ½ cup molasses (160g)

For the Coffee Simple Syrup

  • 1 Tablespoon instant espresso or 1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons instant coffee
  • ¼ cup white sugar (50g)
  • ¼ cup boiling water (60g)

For the Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened (226g)
  • 16 oz cream cheese (full fat), softened
  • 1 Tablespoon espresso granules dissolved in 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract (6g)
  • 6 to 6 ½ cups 690g to 747g more if needed, powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Grease and flour three 8 inch pans, add a circle of waxed or parchment paper to the bottom of each pan.
  • In a separate bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk at least 30 seconds. Set aside.
  • In another bowl, add the hot water, instant coffee, oil and molasses. Stir and set aside.
  • Do not mix the ingredients above medium speed.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix 4 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. 
  • Add the eggs one at a time mixing just until the yolk is blended in.
  • Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the wet ingredients. Begin and end with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients). Mix until just blended in, scraping the bowl a couple of times. Do not over mix. Divide evenly between your three 8 inch pans.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

For the Coffee Simple Syrup

  • In a small saucepan add the sugar and water. Bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add the espresso powder and stir.
  • Let this cool before brushing onto the cake. You can store leftover syrup in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Do not put too much on the cake layers or they will become soggy.
  • If you'd like to you can use a fork or toothpick to make holes in the top of the cake layers before brushing (preferably with a pastry brush) the simple syrup onto each layer.

For the Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened.
  • Cut the cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until blended. If using a hand mixer, you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
  • Add the espresso that has been mixed with the vanilla
  • Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low to medium speed until blended. Do not over mix or it will become too soft. If it does become too soft, just refrigerate for a few minutes, then continue.
  • This frosting will pipe best if used while somewhat chilled. You can make this in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use, let soften to spreading consistency (do not microwave) and stir or remix with mixer.
  • Will fill and frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake

To Assemble the Cake

  • Put your first cake layer on your cake base or pedestal. Lightly brush with your coffee syrup. You don't want to make your cake soggy, so just a light coating is what we are going for.
  • Spread on the espresso cream cheese filling
  • Repeat for the other layers.
  • Frost the cake with espresso cream cheese frosting however you like. (After frosting, we used a bench scraper to smooth the frosting as we rotated it on the turntable, and then used a tapered rounded spatula to gently press into the frosting as we rotated it, working from bottom to top for a ridged effect .) We decorated with a triple shell border around the base, and a reverse shell border on top.

Notes

This cake recipe works well for cupcakes. It makes 7 cups of batter.
4.45 from 49 votes (49 ratings without comment)

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25 Comments

  1. I can not wait to prepare this recipe, I only have a doubt in the simple syrup, you don’t mention when to add the expresso or just mix all ? the boiling water and the expresso and the sugar and continue mixing until dissolve the sugar?

    Reply

  2. Hi Gabriela, I am sorry, thanks for letting me know. Add the espresso powder after you have dissolved the sugar in the water.

    Reply

  4. Hi Birgit, It is stronger than instant coffee granules. If you do not have espresso powder you can substitute with the instant coffee using a bit more. Also, you could replace some of the liquid with strong coffee. Hope you will enjoy the recipe

    Reply

  6. Hi Melissa, yes I would refrigerate because of the cream cheese frosting. I hope you enjoy the recipe!

    Reply

  7. Thank you so much for all your amazing recipes. They are so easy to follow and I love all the explanations before. It makes me feel that I’ve already made it before I even start.

    Reply

  8. So excited to try this recipe, it looks delicious!
    In my experience, cakes that call for all purpose flour come out heavier and more dense than cakes that call for cake flour. Do you ever use cake flour and if so, would you change the proportions for the other ingredients?
    Thank you!

    Reply

    1. Hi Elizabeth, if you prefer cake flour, you should be able to swap in 3cups/342g with no issues. I hope you enjoy it!

      Reply

      1. Thank you! I was actually so excited to make it, I just went ahead and made it per the original directions. And wow!! I couldn’t believe how incredible it was - this is definitely a keeper recipe, thank you so much!