Gingerbread Cake with Brandied Apples

gingerbread cake

I jazzed up this gingerbread cake with a brandied apple topping to really get you in the spirit of the holidays. Baking gingerbread, either cookies or a cake, will fill your kitchen with the enticing aromas of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

Gingerbread is usually sweetened with either honey or molasses. I used blackstrap unsulfured molasses for this gingerbread cake. Unsulfured molasses is made from the unsulfured juice of sun-ripened sugarcane and is extracted from mature sugarcane. The juice from the sugar cane is clarified and concentrated. The molasses combined with the dark brown sugar imparts its deep dark color and rich dense flavors to the gingerbread cake.

I used to make gingerbread houses with the kids when they were young. We made our own gingerbread from scratch and poured it into molds to form each side of the house. The fun part was decorating with the royal icing and colorful candies and of course, tasting along the way.

This is the grown-up version of those gingerbread houses that we enjoyed as children. You will love this adult cake with deep dark spiced flavors and fresh apples glazed with a buttery caramelized sugar sauce laced with brandy. And your friends and family will too!

Check out some of my other favorite holiday recipes here.

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