Tuesdays with Dorie DAC: Baked-in-a-Skillet Gingerbread

December 16, 2025 at 4:16 pm | Posted in tuesdays with dorie, groups, sweet things, cakes & tortes, simple cakes, DAC | 6 Comments
Tags: baking, cake

Gingerbread is one of my most favorite holiday treats. It can come in many forms, not just cookie versus cake, and I’m here for all of them. On the cake side, I’m used to gingerbread being dark and moody, heavy on the molasses, and sometimes even boosted with coffee. This Baked-in-a-Skillet Gingerbread is less molasses-forward and more spice-forward, zippy with bits of candied ginger.

The batter contains a surprise ingredient that threw me for a loop, especially since I didn’t bother to read the recipe until I was just about to make it! Apple butter isn’t a pantry staple for me, and I didn’t really want to go and get it just for this, nor did I feel like making it. I was contemplating substituting it with banana-data puree, but then as I was rummaging through my cabinet looking for last year’s jar of molasses, I found something else I bought last year– a seasonal pumpkin spice spread from Bonne Maman that I had big plans to use, and then, of course, never did. Problem sorted– I used that. (Now I have 3/4 of an open jar left to contend with, however.)

Sometimes I think the “skillet-baked” sweets thing is mostly a gimmick, but here I think baking it this way gives a nice crust to the gingerbread. This is a dense cake, not dry, but certainly not damp, and it lasts for days. It reminds me of some Scandinavian-style gingerbreads I’ve had, and it’s only as I type this that I wonder if that’s why Dorie suggests topping it with Swedish pearl sugar…

If you don’t have the book Dorie’s Anytime Cakes by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it every third Tuesday of the month. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!

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Looks terrific. I’m with you, gingerbread anytime. Fun to hear about your sub for the apple butter.

Comment by Kayte Gerth— December 16, 2025 #

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Gingerbread is one of my favorites, too. I just happened to have some leftover homemade apple butter that needed to be used, so this recipe was perfect.

Comment by Judy— December 16, 2025 #

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Cast iron comes to the rescue again!

Comment by ✒️🥣Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen— December 17, 2025 #

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I loved reading this post…I for one enjoy a good skillet baked dessert haha but I think you are right, this one helped with the crust but also helped with the whole presentation..which my crowd bought into hahaha! I think I liked this gingerbread because it was more spice than “gingerbread”. It was a fun one and very timely! 🙂

Comment by isthisakeeper— December 17, 2025 #

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- it’s mostly the skillet chocolate chip cookie that I take issue with. like why? 🙂
  
  Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— December 17, 2025 #
  
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Weird that my comments didn’t post from last week. My husband loved this one and I agree that it tastes like holiday.

Comment by Diane Zwang— December 18, 2025 #

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