Christmas Gingerbread Cake

Christmas Tree Bundt Pan

I had been holding off on buying a Christmas tree bundt pan for many years, especially after first seeing it on one of Nigella Lawson’s Christmas shows. Why would you buy something which you could only use once a year? Well … why not?!

Why This Recipe Works

• This Christmas Gingerbread Cake recipe requires mostly pantry ingredients.
• It takes only about 15 minutes to prepare this cake!
• The bundt pan does all of the work to transform this cake into a stunning centrepiece.

Favourite Christmas Recipes

Something I love about Christmas is being able to revert to tried and true favourites which become part of the family’s food traditions at this time of the year.

Every Christmas, I love making my childrens’ favourite Gingerbread Sablé cookies, as well as many batches of Swiss Walnut Chrimas Cookies for the neighbours and Fruit Mince Pies for myself (no one in my family really likes them, which is more than fine by me!).

These are all recipes which are made once a year and which have become special in our home for this very reason, so I finally convinced myself of a bundt pan which might become part of our annual Christmas ritual.

Nordic Ware Bundt Pan

And what a beauty it is! Like any bundt pan, this Christmas tree bundt pan will make any plain cake look suddenly merry and festive.

The popular Nordic Ware Holiday Bundt Tree Pan (or Nordic Ware Christmas Tree Pan) is not always so easy to find online. In fact, I think it might have been replaced by the very similar Nordic Ware Pine Forest Bundt Pan. The former has trees of the same size, whereas the latter has different-sized trees.

But when a local Swiss company advertised a very similar cake tin in its catalogue, I promptly ordered one online (and at a fraction of the cost!).

Gingerbread Cake

To christen my new bundt pan, I made a simple gingerbread cake, knowing that plain cakes work best in fancy cake tins like this one.

I absolutely adore gingerbread spices and, if I could, I would use them throughout the year. There are many different types of gingerbread cakes which I love to eat, especially Nigella Lawson’s Gingerbread with Lemon Icing.

But the children often prefer something more familiar and this is a simple and moist cake with mild gingerbread spices.

They have been happily devouring a slice of this cake for their afternoon tea, and my son even helped himself to a large slice for breakfast the other day! (That was after eating his yoghurt and cereal, of course!)

Gingerbread Spice Mix

This gingerbread cake is even easier to make if you are able to get your hands on a ready-made gingerbread spice mix.

I found a nice gingerbread spice mix on a recent trip to France; it is commonly sold in most French supermarkets to make French gingerbread (or pain d’épices), so I figured that it would be a reliable blend.

But I imagine that most ready-made gingerbread spice mixes would work well in this recipe, particularly those intended for use in making German Lebkuchen and Speculoos cookies.

If you can’t find any ready-made gingerbread spices, my recipe below has a suggestion for making your own.

How to Make Gingerbread Cake

Step 1

When using a bundt pan, even if it is non-stick, I like to grease it generously with a non-stick baking spray, followed by a light dusting of flour. Tap the pan over the kitchen sink to remove any excess flour.

For bundt pans which are extra-intricate, I like to give the pan a second coating of flour.

Step 2

Make the batter by creaming together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. This step is important to ensure that your cake will rise nicely during baking.

Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by a tablespoon of the dry ingredients to stop the mixture from curdling.

Add the remaining dry ingredients, followed by the milk and vanilla.

Continue beating until you have a thick and smooth batter.

Step 3

Fill the bundt pan with the cake batter. Tap the pan on the kitchen counter a few times to allow the batter to settle into all of the grooves of the cake mould.

Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the thick part of the cake comes out clean.

Step 4

Let the cake cool in the bundt pan, on a wire rack, for about 10 minutes. This is important to allow the cake to settle and to firm up slightly. Otherwise, if you attempt to unmould the cake too quickly, the cake will fall apart.

Carefully unmould the cake. I use my fingers to gently loosen the cake from the edges of pan, as well as from the centre funnel. Then place a wire rack on top of the bundt pan, invert the pan, and your cake should easily slide out onto the wire rack.

Tips for Making This Christmas Tree Bundt Cake

Over the years, I have received many messages from readers who have loved this recipe, but also messages from a disappointed few who said that their cakes turned out very small and, therefore, did not show the full Christmas tree pattern on the bundt cake.

An important step in making this cake (and most cakes) is to cream the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. This step takes about 5 minutes using an electric stand mixer on low speed.

When you cream the butter and sugar, you incorporate air into the batter, which will create air pockets to help the cake rise and expand to fill the cake pan, as well as to create a light and fluffy texture.

So if you do not cream the butter and sugar sufficiently, the cake will not rise as well. When using a bundt pan, this means that the cake will not fill the mould completely.

As you can see from my photos, this recipe produces enough batter to fill the bundt pan until about 4 cm/2 inches below the rim. The cake eventually rose a good 2-3 cm. It may not rise completely to the rim, otherwise the batter will overflow.

Chocolate Gingerbread Bundt Cake

For a chocolate version, please see my recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread Bundt Cake.

Update

This recipe was first published on 17 December 2017. It has been updated with new photos and more comprehensive recipe notes.