Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread

By Melissa Clark

Updated November 2, 2025

  • Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
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Total Time
1½ hours plus cooling
Rating
5(4,649)
Comments
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Sticky, spicy and full of cranberries, this gingerbread is perfect for the holidays. The recipe has been designed to make ahead, and will taste as good 2 days after baking as it does on the same day. (It will keep for 4 to 5 days.) To store it, wrap it well, stick it in the fridge and then bring to room temperature before serving. Whipped cream or crème fraîche, spiked with a little bourbon if you like, is nice on the side.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings

  • 2 cups/8 ounces/266 grams fresh or frozen cranberries

  • 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

  • 1 stick/4 ounces/113 grams unsalted butter

  • ⅔ cup/133 grams dark brown sugar

  • ½ cup/120 milliliters whole milk

  • ½ cup/120 milliliters maple syrup

  • ¼ cup/60 milliliters molasses

  • 1 ½ cups/185 grams all-purpose flour

  • 1 tablespoon/5 grams ground ginger

  • ½ teaspoon/1 gram ground cinnamon

  • ½ teaspoon/3 grams baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon/3 grams kosher salt

  • ¼ teaspoon/1 gram baking soda

  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

  • 1 tablespoon/14 grams grated fresh ginger (from 1-inch piece)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 to 10 servings)

68 grams carbs; 63 milligrams cholesterol; 379 calories; 3 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 11 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 198 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein; 51 grams sugar

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 and line a 9-inch square or round baking pan with parchment.

  2. Step 2

    In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together cranberries, granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Stir the cranberries over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and cranberries form a sauce that is syrupy and bubbling thickly, about 10 minutes. Aim to have about half the cranberries broken down, with the remainder more or less whole.

  3. Step 3

    In a separate saucepan, stir together the butter, brown sugar, milk, maple syrup and molasses over medium heat. Bring it to just barely a simmer and then remove it from the heat. Do not let it come to a boil, or the mixture may curdle.

  4. Step 4

    In a large bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda and black pepper. Beat in the butter-maple syrup mixture and then beat in the eggs. Stir in the ginger.

  5. Step 5

    Scrape the batter into the pan. Drop fat dollops of cranberry sauce onto the surface of the cake batter. Drag a long, slender knife through the batter in a swirly design, as if you are marbling a cake. Transfer the cake to the oven and bake it until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let the cake cool completely before eating it.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
4,649 user ratings
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Comments

Amanda

Made it for a New Year's Day party. If I could ingest nothing but this and Prosecco--and/or maybe some strong coffee--for the rest of my days, I'd be happy. Dead, but happy.

Cia

Since my husband likes desserts likes less-sweet, I brought the granulated sugar down to 3/4c, the brown sugar down to 1/3c, and the maple syrup down to 1/4c. I also upped the fresh grated ginger to 1-1/2 T. DELICIOUS! More moist than sticky. Next time I'll put in the full 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries.

s leinweber

made this last night. did not have whole cranberries, used dried. cut the sugar (all the sugary bits) way down, at least by half--have found that works in ALL desserts. did not cut the butter, butter is key here. delicious, a winner!!

Lydia

Inspired by a Reddit post, I substituted rhubarb for the cranberry and it was super delicious! I cooked down about a pound of chopped rhubarb with 100g sugar and used half of this for the cake, but I could have added more. I reduced the amount of brown sugar in the cake from 133g to 100g. Here are the metric weights I used for the maple syrup and molasses (I prefer this over using measuring cups). 100g maple syrup (1/3 cup) 80g molasses (1/4 cup)

SR Smith

I used blackstrap molasses for this and it was crazy delicious. I made both standard and vegan versions and both were outstanding. This is a new holiday standard.

Jennie

What a fantastic cake. My favorite gingerbread cake I have ever made or eaten. I used the jarred minced ginger, which made it super easy. It's quite rich; my brain wants to eat more than once piece, but my body is unhappy when I do. So gingery and spicy and sweet and complex. I used all the sugar and did not find it too sweet.

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