Small Vanilla Orange Gingerbread Cream Cake

This small batch vanilla orange gingerbread cream cake combines 6-inch vanilla cake layers infused with fresh orange and a creamy homemade gingerbread-spiced pudding made with molasses, which also makes the fluffy gingerbread mousse frosting! In about an hour, you’ll have a bright-meets-spiced winter dessert that tastes like the season.

I adore the flavor profiles of this cake. It started with my small vanilla orange loaf cake. The contrast of fresh citrus against creamy vanilla is one of my favorite flavor juxtapositions.

For the holidays, gingerbread flavors felt like a natural next step. Orange and gingerbread are a classic pair (it kind of reminds me of the oranges Mom would stud with cloves to perfume the house for the holidays). And vanilla fits in easily, so bringing all three into a small batch 6-inch cake made perfect sense.

I took a classic vanilla pudding and flavored it with everything you know and love about gingerbread: brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, and cloves — which I happened to have ready from my gingerbread latte syrup recipe. From there, I drew inspiration from the countless baking shows I’ve watched and doubled up on the pudding so I could make the mousse work as a frosting. Because if you’ve been here a while, you know I save the intricate cake designs for the professionals. 😊

It took a couple of trials to get the pudding smooth and the mousse sturdy enough for layering, but once it set just right, the barely-there frosting keeps the cake moist and lets the primary flavors shine.

Let me walk you through the different parts of this holiday cake.

The Vanilla Orange Cake

A combination of sour cream, oil, and milk keeps the cake moist. Feel free to swap in any oil as long as it has a neutral flavor. You don’t want to taste it. Canola, coconut, or grapeseed oils are great options.

Let’s not forget about the orange juice and zest. Much like my popular whole orange butter cake, we get most of the flavor from the zest, so zest the entire orange before juicing it.

Creamy Gingerbread Pudding

I use corn starch to thicken my puddings, along with an egg yolk to make it rich and give it a silky texture. Even with this, I recommend making the pudding first — in fact, I require it. It can hang out and thicken in the fridge while the cake bakes and cools.

My only other suggestion is to use unsulphured molasses to make the pudding. It’s not as strong as others, and it is actually preferred in all baking for its balanced flavor.

Making Pudding Into Mousse

There are technically a lot of ways to make mousse. One way is to add gelatin to stabilize it and make it sturdy (like I do in my orange creamsicle mini no-bake cakes). But for this gingerbread cream cake, I’m keeping it easy. Heavy whipping cream is beaten to stiff peaks, then folded with the pudding to make the gingerbread mousse.

This way, we keep the key flavors of this cake distinct while adding a fun, cloud-like texture. And I think the light mousse frosting is far more delicate than traditional buttercream, which is a beautiful thing for this holiday cake.

Alright, that’s the flavor rundown — now let’s get baking!

Small Vanilla Orange Gingerbread Cream Cake

4.8 from 10 reviews

This small batch vanilla orange gingerbread cream cake layers moist, orange-infused vanilla cake with a creamy homemade gingerbread pudding, which also doubles as the fluffy mousse frosting. Ready in about an hour and ideal for a festive holiday dessert.

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by Erin Cernich

Yield6 Servings

Prep38 minutes minutes

Cook22 minutes minutes

Total Time1 hour hour

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Equipment

• ▢
  2 6-Inch Round Cake Pan
• ▢
  Medium Heavy Duty Saucepan
• ▢
  Hand Mixer

Ingredients

Gingerbread Pudding

• ▢ 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• ▢ 2 tablespoons corn starch
• ▢ ½ cup milk (2% or whole)
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoons molasses, unsulphured
• ▢ 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon water
• ▢ ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• ▢ 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Vanilla Orange Cake

• ▢ 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 6 tablespoons milk, room temperature (any kind)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (about half an orange)
• ▢ ⅓ cup full fat sour cream, room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon orange zest (from 1 orange)
• ▢ ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup canola oil (or any neutral oil)
• ▢ 1 large egg, room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Gingerbread Mousse

• ▢ ½ of the Gingerbread Pudding
• ▢ ½ cup heavy whipping cream, cold
• ▢ 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions

 

Gingerbread Pudding

• I recommend making the pudding first so it has time to cool and set up. It can even be made the night before.
• In a small mixing bowl, add the egg yolk, corn starch, and 1/4 cup of the milk. Stir until fully mixed and no lumps of corn starch remain.
  1 large egg yolk, room temperature, 2 tablespoons corn starch, 1/2 cup milk
• In a medium saucepan, add the molasses, brown sugar, and water. Heat over medium heat until the sugar starts to dissolve. Don't overheat the mix – we don't want to burn it! Add the cream and remaining 1/4 cup milk and heat the mixture until small bubbles form along the edges of the pan.
  1 ½ tablespoons molasses, unsulphured, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1 tablespoon water, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, 1/2 cup milk
• Reduce the heat, then carefully and slowly drizzle about half of the warm mixture into the egg mixture – whisking constantly. This tempers the egg so it doesn't scramble when heated.
• Transfer the tempered mixture back into the saucepan. Stir in the spices. Return the heat to medium and while stirring constantly, heat the pudding until it starts to thicken and bubble. This will happen fairly quickly – do not step away from the pudding or stop stirring it.
  1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the butter until melted. Transfer the pudding to a bowl. Optional – Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer set over the bowl to remove any lumps. Cover the pudding with a piece of plastic wrap directly touching the pudding, so a skin does not form. Let the pudding cool slightly at room temperature before refrigerating to avoid condensation. Refrigerate until ready to use.
  1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Vanilla Orange Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line the bottom of 2 6-inch round cake pans with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit. Lightly grease the paper and pans.
• In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/8 teaspoon salt
• In a liquid measuring cup, measure out the milk and orange juice. Then add the sour cream and orange zest. Note – Zest the entire orange first, then juice about half of it for 2 tablespoons.
  6 tablespoons milk, room temperature, 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice, 1/3 cup full fat sour cream, room temperature, 1 teaspoon orange zest
• In a medium mixing bowl, add sugar and oil and mix until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, and whisk until fully incorporated. Add half of the milk mixture and mix until just incorporated. The remainder will be alternated with the dry ingredients.
  2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup canola oil, 1 large egg, room temperature, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Sprinkle half of the dry ingredients over the wet and fold into the batter until just mixed. Add the remaining milk mixture and mix until mostly incorporated, and finish by sprinkling in the remaining dry ingredients and fold until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix the batter – it is ok if there are a few lumps.
• Pour the batter equally into the prepared cake pans and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the cakes are golden, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Tip – Use a cookie scoop to equally portion the batter into the cake pans.
• Cool the cakes in the pans set on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then gently invert the cake pans onto the wire rack to release the cakes – if the cakes stick, run a knife around the edge of the cakes. Flip the cakes back over and cool on the rack completely.

Gingerbread Mousse

• When ready to assemble the cake, make the gingerbread mousse. Set one of the cake layers on your serving plate. Spoon or pipe half of the cooled gingerbread pudding into the middle of the cake, leaving at least 1/2 inch around the edges.
• In a small mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Note – You can add 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar if you want the mousse to be a little sweeter.
  1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, cold, 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• Scoop about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the remaining pudding and fold it in until fully mixed. Doing this makes mixing the pudding into the whipped cream much easier. Transfer the mix back into the remaining whipped cream and fold until no whipped cream streaks remain. Note – Fold gently so the whipped cream doesn't deflate.
  1/2 of the Gingerbread Pudding
• Finish assembling the cake – Pipe a ring of the gingerbread mousse along the outside of the pudding you have in the middle of the cake, plus pipe a layer on top of the pudding. This will help keep the pudding from spilling out of the sides of the cake. Top with the other cake and frost the cake (however you like!) with the remaining mousse. If you're not serving right away, refrigerate the cake to keep the pudding and mousse set. I use a cake dome to cover my cakes — or if you have a cake carrier, that top works great too.

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Notes

• Serving Size – This is a small batch recipe for a 6-inch cake. Doubling the recipe should work fine using 2, 8-inch cake pans and increasing the bake time. Start checking the cakes at 22 minutes.
• Yield – The 6-inch cake will easily yield 6 cake slices.
• Pudding – If the pudding is too loose when you’re ready to assemble the cake, it probably needs to chill longer. 
• Storage – The cake can sit at room temperature for up to 6 hours.  Beyond that, I recommend covering and refrigerating the cake.
• Freezing – I don’t recommend freezing the assembled cake because the consistency of the mousse and pudding will change (and may separate). The individual cake layers can be wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a freezer bag, and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature to assemble and serve. 

Nutrition Estimates

Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 166mg | Potassium: 183mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 658IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 99mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is calculated by a third-party and should only be considered an estimate and not a guarantee.