Celebrate the Winter Solstice with Our Gingerbread Coffee Cake

We’re now in the homestretch of the Holiday Baking Season. Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Day are right around the corner! Yet one celebration that may not be on your holiday baking radar is the coming Winter Solstice on December 21st. We can’t think of a more warm, aromatic, and tasty way to usher in the First Day of Winter than with our sweet and spicy Gingerbread Coffee Cake. Made with a bevy of warming spices, like Indonesian cinnamon, cloves, long pepper, and both ground and crystalized ginger; lots of rich dark molasses; a bit of brewed coffee; and a splash of fresh orange juice; the cake is marvelously flavorful. Couple that with a moist, tender crumb and contrasting crispy, sugary exterior, thanks to a generous “flouring” of the cake pan with demerara sugar prior to baking. 

Our Gingerbread Coffee Cake has enjoyed a dedicated following ever since Bakehouse Managing Partner Amy Emberling developed the recipe for the Bakehouse. Zingerman’s Mail Order, our sister business, calls it “the hip, spicy uncle” of our coffee-cake family. That just might perfectly capture its broad appeal—it’s a little sweet, a little quirky, and a most welcome visitor to the holiday dessert table (especially when paired with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!).  Our cake, in essence, is a spicy marriage of two time-honored American baking traditions—soft Gingerbread and the Coffee Cake. 

A Brief History of Gingerbread and Coffee Cake Baking Traditions

Gingerbread and the myriad shapes and textures it takes has a long history. The earliest forms of Gingerbread can be traced to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who used it for ceremonial purposes. Its early arrival in Europe came by way of 11th-century Crusaders bringing back ginger from the Middle East for European cooks in aristocratic households to experiment with. As Eurasian trade routes expanded and ginger and other spices became more accessible and ultimately affordable to the masses, Gingerbread caught on, eventually finding its way to colonial America in the 18th century in the popular form of a tender and richly-spiced cake baked in a pan.

One of the better-known recipes for American Gingerbread Cake dates back to the Revolutionary War.  It’s attributed to General George Washington’s mother, Mary Ball Washington, who is said to have served her favorite gingerbread cake recipe to the Marquis de Lafayette–the French nobleman and military officer then serving heroically in Washington’s Continental Army–when he visited her at her home in Fredricksburg, Virginia in the spring of 1781.

Eventually, Mary Washington’s recipe came to be known as Lafayette Gingerbread in honor of the beloved French officer. The recipe began appearing in American cookbooks as such following Lafayette’s triumphant American tour in 1824-25 as the last surviving Major-General of the Revolutionary War. Eliza Leslie’s recipe for Lafayette Gingerbread, published in 1828 in her cookbook, Seventy-Five Receipts, for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, was one of many in the 19th century to popularize the American taste for a sweet and spicy moist gingerbread cake made with an array of ingredients similar to those found in our very own Gingerbread Coffee Cake.

From Gingerbread to Coffee Cake – Some history

Another time-honored baking tradition in which our Gingerbread Cake is firmly rooted is that of the American Coffee Cake, a sweet, often spiced single-layer cake that pairs beautifully with a cup of coffee. Like many of the American baking traditions we honor here at the Bakehouse, Coffee Cake is essentially European in origin. The earliest versions come from Germany and date back to the 17th century when coffee was first introduced to Europe. There, Gugelhupf, a semi-sweet yeasted cake that is baked in a distinctive fluted tube pan, has been a mainstay of the centuries-old afternoon social ritual Kaffee und Kuchen, where friends and family gather to enjoy coffee, cake, and conversation. Gugelhupf is also a beloved treat throughout Western and Central Europe.

Coffee Cake’s American Evolution 

In the 19th century, immigrants came to America en masse. They brought their baking traditions and recipes with them, including the many different iterations of yeasted Coffee Cake baked in Gugelhupf pans. Once here, coffee cake recipes further evolved. By the 20th century, bakers were turning to baking soda and baking powder as leaveners versus yeast, cutting down on the time it took to make them. Ingredients also changed. Eggs, milk, and sour cream became recipe mainstays, leading to a much more hydrated cake batter and a denser, more tender, pound cake-like structure when baked. 

The evolution of American Coffee Cake reached a pinnacle milestone in 1950 with the advent of the cast aluminum Bundt pan by Minnesota’s Nordic Ware company. This innovative, light-weight, fluted tube pan allowed for heavier batters and fillings to bake evenly, resulting in the familiar ring-shaped coffee cakes that we know and love today. Now produced in various sizes and fluted patterns, traditional Bundt pans are what we use here at the Bakehouse to bake our full repertoire of coffee cakes, including our Gingerbread Coffee Cake, hence the spicy marriage of two time-honored baking traditions–Gingerbread and American Coffee Cake. 

Shared Bakehouse Recipe – Gingerbread Coffee Cake

The Bakehouse’s recipe for Gingerbread Coffee Cake now graces the pages of our most recent cookbook, Celebrate Every Day, much to the joy of many guests who were passionately disappointed not to find it in our first cookbook, Zingerman’s Bakehouse. And in our effort to quell that disappointment and be more inclusive, we’re sharing the recipe with you here too. We hope that you’ll celebrate the First Day of Winter and the cold months ahead with our Gingerbread Coffee Cake. It’s lovely baked in the warm comfort of your home kitchen. But if baking up your own is not your jam, have no fear. We’ve got plenty on hand in our Bakeshop ready for pickup in both small and large sizes, now through February.

Bakehouse Gingerbread Coffee Cake

This is a cake with an illustrious ingredient list. Our sweet and spicy gingerbread cake is made with real butter, demerara sugar, crystallized ginger, and a splash of fresh orange juice. It’s a little dark and mysterious too from its rich molasses, Zingerman’s Coffee Company brew, and a pinch of pepper. Plate yourself a thick warm slice with a big dollop of fresh whipped cream. It will make you love winter.

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Servings 10

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup demerara sugar for preparing the baking pan (optional)
• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp ground long pepper (optional – see Tip below)
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground dry mustard
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 17 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 each large eggs (room temperature)
• 18 Tbsp molasses
• 1/2 cup orange juice (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup brewed coffee (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger (chopped into 1/4 inch pieces)

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C) and place a rack in the middle position of the oven.
• Thoroughly coat a 10-cup bundt pan evenly with non-stick cooking spray; then coat the inside well with Demerara sugar (if using). Pour out excess. If you don’t have demerara sugar or prefer not to use it, coat the pan with flour after spraying it.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground spices until combined. Set aside. 
• In another medium mixing bowl, stir together the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and cream for four minutes on medium speed.  It will be fairly dry. Drizzle in the oil and mix until light and smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a bowl scraper or spatula.
• Add the eggs one at a time to the bowl with the batter. Mix on a medium speed until well combined. Scrape the bowl well.
• Add the molasses and mix on the same speed until there are no streaks of color. Scrape the bowl well.
• In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the orange juice and coffee. 
• Sift together the flour, soda, salt, spices, and dry mustard.
• On a low speed, add one-third of the wet mixture to the batter and mix together well. Then, add one-third of the sifted dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Continue alternating the addition of wet and dry ingredients, in thirds, to the batter until everything is incorporated.
• Stir in the crystallized ginger and scrape the bowl well.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with an offset spatula.
• Bake for 65 minutes, or until a tester or toothpick inserted in the thickest part of the cake comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when you press it gently with your fingers.
• Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the pan before carefully depanning. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Notes

Storage: Store the cake wrapped in plastic at room temperature for up to one week or freeze for up to three months.

 

Tip!

Long pepper looks like a tiny, bumpy cattail, but there’s nothing small about its flavor profile. It’s deep and complex, walking the line between peppery heat, warm earthiness, and floral sweetness. Look for it in spice shops, whether brick-and-mortar or online. We think it makes this cake a touch more special. If you can’t find it you’ll still have a great dessert.

Hungry for More?

• Order a Gingerbread Coffee Cake for local pickup from the Bakehouse today!
• Order a Gingerbread Coffee Cake and have it shipped nationwide.
• Need further instruction to make it yourself? Join us at BAKE! for the hands-on baking class Ginger Jamboree. (Redfin recently included BAKE! in their list of must-do Detroit winter activities!)
• Pick up our latest cookbook, Celebrate Every Day, for the recipe and so much more!
• Looking for more Bakehouse coffee cake recipes: Sour Cream, Lemon Poppyseed, and Hot Cocoa? Pick up our first cookbook, Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

Lee Vedder

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After a long, established career as a Ph.D. art history scholar and art museum curator, Lee, a Michigan native, came to the Bakehouse in 2017 eager to pursue her passion for artisanal baking and to apply her love of history, research, writing, and editing in a new exciting arena. Her first turn at the Bakehouse was as a day pastry baker. She then moved on to retail sales in the Bakeshop, followed by joining the Marketing Team and becoming the Bakehouse’s designated culinary historian. In addition to her retail sales and marketing work, she’s a member of the Bakehouse’s Grain Commission, co-author and editor of the Bakehouse's series of cookbooklets, and a regular contributor to the BAKE! Blog and Zingerman’s Newsletter, where she explores the culinary, cultural, and social history and evolution of the Bakehouse’s artisan baked goods.

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