German Christmas Gingerbread

This recipe will make you a rock star! I have made it for the last 2 years as Christmas gifts, and my German friends all comment on how it reminds them of the holidays from when they were little. It's not overly sweet, which I like. The recipe is easy to follow, and it makes your house smell FABULOUS! It is very authentic-tasting. You simply MUST make this cake.

This cake is not too sweet. It has been a hit eveytime I make it!

This is wonderful, I will add more ginger next time but really is great as is. I'll definitely make it again!!!

My family loved this recipe and the aroma was wonderful while it baked! However, everyone agreed that it tasted more like fruit cake than gingerbread. I used the very best ingredients: freshly squeezed orange juice, Grand Marnier, and Priester's Pecan pieces. It was an excellent recipe but I wanted more of an "old fashioned" gingerbread taste.

My husband and kids loved this bread! I substituted applesauce for the butter and egg beaters for the eggs, it was just delicious! I also cooked it in two loaf pans, so I'd be able to share!

One word, delicious! I really like spicy cakes like this one!

Yum...this is the perfect compromise between a spice cake and the German gingerbread dessert my Oma made for so many years. My cake was done at 55 minutes - so make sure you check it early! I substituted the almonds with pecans, and also used golden raisins. Do this cake a favor and make a wonderful orange icing using freshly squeezed juice and zest.

Great recipe, I modified it slightly, so here are my modifications. First, ~I MADE A DOUBLE BATCH, SO MODIFICATIONS ARE BASED ON THAT.~ I replaced the raisins with fresh Madijol dates chopped about the size of a raisin with scissors and I added 1.5 cups of fresh candied ginger slices that I cut into fine strips with the scissors and rolled the ginger and dates through the brown sugar so that they would not all stick together in clumps. I also reduced the brown sugar for a DOUBLE batch by 1 cup less, using 3 cups brown sugar and further reducing the honey by 2/3 cup less as well on the double batch. I also increased the spices as follows for a double batch. 2 tsp cloves and 2 tsp cinnamon instead of the lesser amounts listed in original recipe. I did not have nutmeg on hand, so that was also left out, but I did not see a significant difference without it. I was out of orange liqueur, so I substituted Bailey's Irish cream and added the zest of 1 whole orange to the Irish Cream and let that sit while I stirred up the rest of ingredients... it smelled totally great and just like orange liqueur by the time I mixed it it!!! TURNED OUT FABULOUS AND MOIST.

I made this for the B&B this weekend, and everyone loved it! I substituted extra OJ since I didn't have orange liqueur, and didn't pack the brown sugar. I will definitely be making this throughout the winter season - it is really delicious. I used it in place of a coffee cake for breakfast.

Don't envision traditional "gingerbread with lemon sauce"! This cake is a delicious, hearty spice cake. Can't wait to try some with coffee in the morning. A couple things: I wanted it to be more flavorful, so I added more spices. Also the recipe makes a huge amount of batter, way too much for my bunt pan. Did not relese from my pan at all, but I don't think my kids will care...

Spactacular recipe! I didn't change anything except for not adding the almonds. This tastes excellent just the way it is. I took it to my son's preschool for a special snack and it was loved! I am making it again for Christmas right now. Only note I have to leave is that I used loaf pans and it definitely makes more than two! It overflowed all over, so now I am making it into four loaves, two cups of batter each. We'll see how it turns out!

This cake had a really good flavor, in spite of the fact that my bundt pan is garbage and it burned it half to death. The inside was still really nice. I am looking forward to trying it again when I have a new bundt pan!! I wonder if a different cooking temperature and time would've saved it? Because the outside was charred. I know my pan was bad, but still - 80 minutes seemed a lot.

We weren't sure to use dark or light brown sugar. We chose light and it turned out great! We put a bit of whipping cream on when we served it.

Wonderfull,moist,flavorfull,did have a slight problem gettng it out of the tube pan.

I made this for friends and family last Christmas (2002) and rave reviews wer returned. This tasty bread does not last for long!!!

My kids could not get enough!!! Thank you for sharing. Don't open the door (or in my case don't let the kids roam the kitchen) of the oven before it's done, otherwise it goes down just like a cake.

This is delicous! Beware that the batter makes very big loaves; I split it into two pans.

This turned out very good - and that's saying something because I am not a great cook. I made it exactly as instructed - minus the almonds (none on hand). It is very moist, and made the whole house smell wonderful. I made it in the mini-loaf pans to give in Christmas baskets - baked for 35 minutes, turned out perfect. As a side note - my boyfriend said it was good but thought the orange flavor was too strong and took away from the traditional gingerbread flavor he was expecting.

Loved it. Moist and flavorful. I made a few substitutions based on what I had in my cupboard; loquat liquor instead of orange, buttermilk instead of sour cream, and dried cranberries instead of raisins. Yum!

I tried a "tester" cake last night to see if this recipe would be worthy of being given as a gift for Christmas. It is. And the tester is going in my and my boyfriend's bellies. OM NOM.

We made this recipe two times this christmas. My daughter and her friend made one together that my daughter's friend took home and then we made one just for the house. It makes a lot of dough so a large house can be made with many features around it. My daughter and her friend made a thick house so it needed additional internal support. The second one we rolled thinner and it turned out very well and no supports were needed.

Made it as is except without almonds. If I made this again I would alter the baking temp and/or time to less time or a lower temperature. I may also use a whole wheat pastry flour next time. Outside burned a little (insides were still good). I soaked my raisins in the liquor for several days before baking. This smelled so good while baking and tastes wonderful.

I followed this recipe completely, except no orange liqueur available to use. Prepped the pan, but the cake baked unevenly (dry on outside, still uncooked inside), and it fell apart when I tried to remove it from the pan. Flavor just okay. The raisins and nuts did not help the flavor. What did I do wrong???

I don't know if I screwed this up or not, but it did not look like the picture and did not taste good. It was too many flavors and not sweet at all.

This was an excellent addition to our Christmas recipes! I am planning on making it a new tradition in my family. Definately a keeper.

Really lovely recipe and worth cooking just for the wonderful smell that filled the house!! As per other reviewers I upped the spices a little and mine was cooked in 65 minutes. Definitely a keeper!

I did not have Gran Marnier so used all orange juice. Deelish. Next time will try Rum or Whiskey. Home run for the holidays. Thank you for this recipe.

Hooooo boy! I made this on Christmas morning to take away on Boxing Day. I thought I had all the ingredients ...THOUGHT!! NOT!! Barely had enough ginger, increased the other spices and added allspice and black pepper. Had no WW flour, used all All Purpose. Had barely enough Baking powder, subbed in baking soda. Honestly, I did not think it would turn out. BUT IT DID! Now that’s a champ of a recipe for ya!

I didn't love this. I followed the recipe exactly and baked it in a bundt pan. It did not release easily and I had to piece it back together (icing hides this, thankfully). I found it a bit dry and crumbly and not as flavourful as I'd hoped. I made a cream cheese butter frosting and added orange zest and Grand Marnier, which helped with the flavour and moistness. This was not a winner for me and I don't think I'll make it again. :(

AMAZING !!! This tasted sooooooo gooood !!! Followed the recipe with the exception of the following. Used a fruity wine instead of the orange liquer, did not put in the raisins or slivered almonds. Came out great !!! House smelled wonderful. I did have to bake this for over 90 minutes though. This will now be a Xmas tradition !!

Simple and easy batter to make. I am not a baker and found this extremely easy to recreate. i even replacing the orange liqueur with red wine and turned out fantastic. Total time to prepare and bake less than 2 hours. Got me girlfriend in a good mood when she was experiencing a terrible day

I made this for a family Christmas party and it was gone within 20 minutes. I absolutely love this and plan on making it a lot!