This gingerbread trifle is layered with moist gingerbread cake, homemade caramel sauce, and whipped gingerbread cream cheese filling. Perfect for a crowd during the holiday season!
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🎄A trifle for the holiday season
This gingerbread trifle is completely homemade, down to the cute gingerbread men I topped the trifle with. And it feeds a crowd (so does this Christmas cake)! The gingerbread cake is moist and full of warm spices, and the caramel sauce is a perfect sweet addition. The whipped cream cheese filling has a those gingerbread spices in it too, to really bring it all together.
You can top this trifle with gingerbread men like I did, or crumble gingerbread cookies around the top. Finish with drizzles of caramel sauce.
This trifle can be made ahead too! I find that it tasted better the next day, after it's had a chance to settle and the flavours marry.
Do you like gingerbread? Try my gingerbread latte loaf, chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies, or gingerbread cupcakes!
🥘Ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Unsalted butter - If you use salted butter, omit the extra butter in the recipe.
- Brown sugar - I used light brown sugar in this recipe. Dark brown sugar can be substituted without any change except the cake will be a touch darker in colour.
- Cream cheese - Make sure you use the block cream cheese, which is meant for baking.
🔪Instructions
Gingerbread Cake
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together in a medium sized bowl.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and lightened in colour, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, and molasses. Mix until well combined.
Add in milk and dry ingredients alternatively starting and ending with flour (3 additions of dry ingredients, 2 of milk).
Pour batter evenly into two 9 inch round baking pans that have been greased and the bottoms lined with parchment paper. Bake for 23-28 minutes at 350°F (177°C), or until toothpicks inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, and then turn cakes out of pans and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
Whipped Gingerbread Cream Cheese Filling
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until well combined. Add ginger, cinnamon, cloves, molasses, and milk. Mix until well combined.
Whip heavy whipping cream in a medium bowl, until stiff peaks form. Fold half the whipping cream into cream cheese mixture. Gently fold in remaining whipping cream. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Caramel Sauce
You can use store bought caramel sauce, or make your own! To make it, heat sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat until melted, stirring constantly. This will take about 15 minutes, but the sugar will melt.
Once melted, immediately remove from heat and stir in butter and heavy whipping cream. The mixture will violently bubble. This is because the sugar is hot and the butter and heavy whipping cream are cold. Don't worry. The ingredients will happily come together.
The caramel will stop bubbling when the ingredients are well combined. Stir in salt and pour caramel into a small bowl to cool completely before using.
Assembly
Cut gingerbread cake into 1 inch square cubes. Place a layer of cubes in the bottom of trifle dish. Drizzle ¼ of the caramel over cake, and then place a layer of whipped cream cheese over the cake and caramel.
Repeat 2 more times and finish with a layer of whipped cream cheese and a drizzle of caramel over the top.
Cover trifle and place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. The trifle needs time to settle and for the flavours to marry. Decorate with gingerbread men before serving, if desired.
For more step-by-step pictures and instructions, see the web story for gingerbread trifle recipe!
✔️Expert tips
- Feel free to use store bought caramel if low on time. No one will know!
- Make sure your baking powder isn't outdated. You will not get the rise on these cakes if it's outdated.
- Instead of serving in one big trifle bowl, serve in individual servings (mason jars would be cute).
- Feel free to decorate the top however you want -sprinkle gingerbread cookie crumbs over top, reserve some gingerbread cake to crumble on top, or place cubes of reserved gingerbread cake in the middle with a drizzle of caramel sauce!
💭FAQs
Gingerbread cake is a cake made with molasses and warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. A ginger cake is made mainly with ginger. It may contain some other spices, and may or may not have molasses in it.
Yes, any trifle should sit between 4-24 hours before serving so the flavours have a chance to marry.
The gingerbread cake can be made several days ahead. Cool, wrap in plastic wrap and place cakes in freezer bags. Store in the freezer until the day you want to assemble.
The caramel can also be made ahead. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
No, the whipped cream cheese filling part of the trifle can not be frozen. The individual gingerbread cakes can be frozen until you need them.
🔖Related recipes
📋 Recipe
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Gingerbread Trifle
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ tablespoons ground ginger
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1½ cups light brown sugar packed
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup molasses
- 1 cup whole milk room temperature
Whipped Gingerbread cream Cheese Filling
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter cold
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream cold
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Gingerbread Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease two 9 inch round cake pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together in a medium sized bowl.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and lightened in colour, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, and molasses. Mix until well combined.
- Add in milk and dry ingredients alternatively starting and ending with flour (3 additions of dry ingredients, 2 of milk).
- Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 23-28 minutes, or until toothpicks inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, and then turn cakes out of pans and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
Whipped Gingerbread Cream Cheese Filling
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until well combined. Add ginger, cinnamon, cloves, molasses, and milk. Mix until well combined.
- Whip heavy whipping cream in a medium bowl, until stiff peaks form. Fold half the whipping cream into cream cheese mixture. Gently fold in remaining whipping cream. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Caramel Sauce
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat sugar over medium heat until melted, stirring constantly.
- Once melted, immediately remove from heat and stir in butter and heavy whipping cream. The mixture will violently bubble.
- The caramel will stop bubbling when the ingredients are well combined. Stir in salt and pour caramel into a small bowl to cool completely before using.
Assemble
- Cut gingerbread cake into 1 inch square cubes. Place a layer of cubes in the bottom of trifle dish. Drizzle ¼ of the caramel over cake, and then place a layer of whipped cream cheese over the cake and caramel.
- Repeat 2 more times and finish with a layer of whipped cream cheese and a drizzle of caramel over the top.
- Cover trifle and place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. The trifle needs time to settle and for the flavours to marry. Decorate with gingerbread men before serving, if desired.
Joan
Made this gingerbread trifle for Christmas. Absolutely delicious and easy to make. Thank you so much for a different gingerbread dessert. Was enjoyed by all!!
Nina
I'm so glad the trifle was a bit hit! 🙂
Hallie Watson
I made this for Christmas dinner. It was a hit! Like another commenter, I had trouble with the caramel sauce. Once I had removed from heat and added in the butter and heavy cream, it hardened instantly before having a chance to incorporate. I made it a second time added a tablespoon of water to the sugar at the start, and once it started caramelizing I then added in the butter and very slowly the heavy cream. I also had half a cake remaining. I crumbled a bit for the topping.
It turned out so cute—wish I could post a pic. 🙂
Nina
I'm so happy that it turned out well for you! I wish pictures could be shared too. I would love to see your trifle! 🙂
Amanda
I made this today for a Christmas party. I have about 1/2 of one of the cakes left. I don’t know if I didn’t add enough to the trifle, but my trifle bowl wasn’t large enough to hold it all! I do wish I had made a little extra of the cream cheese-whipped cream filling. I thought my caramel was a fail, too, but I returned it to low heat and got the hardened lumps out. It tastes sooo good - hope everyone likes it tonight!
Nina
Thanks for the review. I'm so glad it all worked out for you! 🙂
Jo
I made this to split between a book club Christmas party and my family: out of a population of 15 people that tried this cake - ALL of them loved it! It was really delicious - particularly that cream cheese/whipped cream filling. Everything was well-spiced and we loved the molasses flavor. The cake and cream filling were easy to make. I thought I had failed at the caramel sauce - I got hard lumps of sauce in my sauce pan when I added the butter and cream - but then it was easy to pour it through a strainer and luckily it came out beautifully (and added bonus - the lumps left in the strainer turned out to be delicious little butterscotch bits!) This was a really great and different cake to make! Thanks for the recipe!
Nina
Thanks so much for sharing this! I'm so glad the trifle was a hit at your book club!!! 🙂
julie
this was so delicious!
Nina
Hi Julie! I'm so happy you enjoyed it!