Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread
Updated Nov. 3, 2025
- Total Time
- 1½ hours plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2cups/8 ounces/266 grams fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 1stick/4 ounces/113 grams unsalted butter
- ⅔cup/133 grams dark brown sugar
- ½cup/120 milliliters whole milk
- ½cup/120 milliliters maple syrup
- ¼cup/60 milliliters molasses
- 1½cups/185 grams all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon/5 grams ground ginger
- ½teaspoon/1 gram ground cinnamon
- ½teaspoon/3 grams baking powder
- ½teaspoon/3 grams kosher salt
- ¼teaspoon/1 gram baking soda
- ¼teaspoon black pepper
- 2large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1tablespoon/14 grams grated fresh ginger (from 1-inch piece)
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
379 calories; 11 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 68 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 51 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 198 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
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9-inch square or round baking pan with parchment.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Private Notes
Comments
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.
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.
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!!
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.
I had leftover cranberry sauce in my freezer from Christmas. It was not overly sweet to begin with, and had orange zest and walnuts in it… so it was absolute perfection when used in this cake. Scrumptious!!
This is a very delicious dessert! I took the advice of many commenters and cut the sugars in half. I did not reduce the maple syrup or the molasses amounts because they add flavor in addition to sweetness. I used 12 oz (3 cups) of cranberries, and I felt that that amount was a good balance with the gingerbread. I love the fresh ginger and the black pepper in the gingerbread, which gave the bread some zing! I used an 8" square pan and baked the gingerbread for 40'. Absolute perfection!!