The Marrow’s Ginger Stout Cake

By Melissa Clark

Updated March 10, 2025

The Marrow’s Ginger Stout Cake
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
Total Time
1½ hours plus cooling
Rating
5(2,014)
Comments
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This is a rich, fragrant ginger cake with a crunchy raw-sugar coating and moist crumb. The combination of grated fresh ginger root and powdered ginger, along with black pepper and cloves, gives it a particularly intense spice flavor. Make sure to use a good stout here. Since you’ll only use part of a bottle, choose one you’d be happy to finish off while the cake is in the oven.

As with most gingerbread, this is a good keeping cake, and can be made a day or two ahead. Store it wrapped in foil at room temperature. Then serve it with cream whipped with a little crème fraiche or sour cream for tartness, which will offset all that crunchy sugar coating the cake.

Featured in: A Company-Worthy Ginger Cake with Molasses and Stout

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Ingredients

Yield:12 servings
  • 2tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 125grams raw (Demerara) sugar (½ cup)
  • 1cup stout
  • 1cup molasses
  • ½teaspoon baking soda
  • 240grams all-purpose flour (2 cups)
  • 1tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • ¼teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼teaspoon allspice
  • ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3tablespoons grated fresh ginger
  • 3large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 210grams dark brown sugar, lightly packed (1 cup)
  • 200grams granulated sugar (1 cup)
  • ¾cup safflower oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

492 calories; 17 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 11 grams polyunsaturated fat; 82 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 64 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 137 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a Bundt pan well with the softened butter. Coat the entire pan with raw sugar so that it sticks to the butter. Turn the pan over to dump out any excess sugar.

  2. Step 2

    Add the stout and molasses to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat. Carefully whisk in the baking soda and let cool to room temperature. Be careful as the stout mixture will bubble up.

  3. Step 3

    Sift together the flour, ground spices, pepper and salt. Set aside.

  4. Step 4

    In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the fresh ginger, eggs, vanilla extract, dark brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed for five minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the oil. Mix for another 5 minutes. Slowly add the stout mixture and mix for another 5 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Carefully add the dry ingredients in two parts, mixing well in between each addition.

  7. Step 7

    Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes and then flip upside down to release while still warm. Let cool completely.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
2,014 user ratings
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Comments

jj

340 grams of flour is way more than 2 cups. Which measurement is correct?

SB

There is no one measurement for grams of flour per cup-- which is why professional bakers have always used wight rather than volume measurements. If you scoop the flour directly into a volume-measuring cup as opposed to spooning it in, you can end up with 30% more flour in the cup by weight. Chances are the two cups here are scooped. Always, always go by weight when baking-- it's 100% consistent from baker to baker, while the way you fill a volume measure varies enormously.

Tessa

Very similar to a Cook's Illustrated gingerbread recipe. I use a 9x13 pan rather than a Bundt pan, lined with parchment paper, turn it out to cool, and frost this with cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese and gingerbread go very nicely together.

Salgadoa

I’ve made this every year for St Patrick’s day for a decade and it’s so incredibly delicious. Don’t miss the butter/turbinado coating. The little stout/baking soda science experiment is a fun perk, as is stealing a sip or two of Guinness midday when you make it. I usually sub about 1/3 of the oil (and just use veg oil) with applesauce and it’s all good.

Shaun

I weighed the flour (240g) and the batter was very liquid. The cake was extremely slow to cook—I probably added an extra 30 minutes—but apart from slightly overcarmelized edges the moist middle was amazing. People were crazy about it. I will experiment with more flour (i.e., closer to 2 cups) but I'm reluctant to give up the texture I got with less flour.

AR

This is an amazing ginger cake and has become one of our standards for birthdays or other special occasions! The stout adds a nice roundness and bitterness to the standard ginger cake. As a minor touch, the sugar crust becomes chewy and crunchy and is one of our favorite parts of the cake, to the point where there are fights over who gets to clean out the pan after baking.

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