A lemon glaze is one of the most popular ways to finish off a loaf of freshly baked gingerbread. Lemon makes a great contrast to all of the spices in gingerbread. It is bright and cuts right through those dark flavors – and even though the spices themselves are nice, it is much easier to taste them when you have something to compare them to.
Many gingerbreads are baked in a loaf pan or as a single-layer cake, but this one is a layer cake with a billowy lemon frosting to go with it. The cake is moist and spicy, with a fairly complex flavor thanks to a combination of ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, ground black pepper and molasses. There is even a bit of lemon zest in the cake to help it tie in with the frosting. The cake is flavorful, but isn’t too heavy, so you won’t feel weighed down after a big slice of this.
I made a very light frosting to top off this cake. It is a meringue-based frosting made with egg whites, and has a consistency similar to that of marshmallow fluff, but smoother and less sticky. I added a lot – 1 tablespoon – of meyer lemon zest to infuse the lemon flavor into the frosting. Feel free to use regular lemons in place of the Meyer lemons, but expect to have a slightly stronger lemon flavor in the finished frosting. The cake can be prepared a day in advance and stored, well-wrapped, at room temperature. The entire cake can be frosted in advance, but I think that this light frosting is at its very best on the day it is made (even if you make it several hours before serving). A regular buttercream frosting with added lemon zest can be substituted if you want something a little bit faster that still has lemon flavor to it.