diff --git a/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/BuildWorker.java b/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/BuildWorker.java
index 23291d5b24701..11290f4d0b0ab 100644
--- a/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/BuildWorker.java
+++ b/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/BuildWorker.java
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ public void execute() {
 
             LOGGER.info("Quarkus application build was successful");
         } catch (BootstrapException e) {
-            throw new GradleException("Failed to build Quarkus application", e);
+            // TODO remove this unconditional logging
+            LOGGER.error("Failed to generate sources in the QuarkusPrepare task for {}", gav, e);
+            // Gradle "abbreviates" the stacktrace to something human-readable, but here the underlying cause might
+            // get lost in the error output.
+            throw new GradleException("Failed to build Quarkus application for " + gav + " due to " + e, e);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/CodeGenWorker.java b/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/CodeGenWorker.java
index fa19eb3f54084..af3e5186f368a 100644
--- a/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/CodeGenWorker.java
+++ b/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/worker/CodeGenWorker.java
@@ -81,7 +81,14 @@ public void execute() {
                     // boolean test
                     params.getTest().get());
         } catch (BootstrapException | IllegalAccessException | InvocationTargetException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
-            throw new GradleException("Failed to generate sources in the QuarkusPrepare task", e);
+            // TODO remove this unconditional logging
+            //if (!(e instanceof BootstrapException)) {
+            LOGGER.error("Failed to generate sources in the QuarkusPrepare task for {}", gav, e);
+            //}
+
+            // Gradle "abbreviates" the stacktrace to something human-readable, but here the underlying cause might
+            // get lost in the error output.
+            throw new GradleException("Failed to generate sources in the QuarkusPrepare task for " + gav + " due to " + e, e);
         }
     }
 }