This Vegan Gingerbread Cake is perfect to have for breakfast with a mug of coffee or an afternoon snack with a cup of tea. It’s deliciously spicy and soft and light. Easy one-bowl dessert that can be made even during the busiest holiday season.
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This post first appeared on the blog on November 26, 2016 and is now updated with more information.
The aroma of this Vegan Ginger Cake permeated the air in my kitchen for a few days. Every time I’d go downstairs to get a cup of coffee or tea I could smell the wonderful spicy ginger and warming cinnamon.
I made this cake many times over the past few years and it is now part of my holiday baking tradition.
My husband isn’t into sweets too much and he’s not a huge fan of gingerbread spices either. So, I usually end up eating most of those cakes on my own. I feel a little bit guilty, but not really as the cake is delicious and makes me feel very happy and festive.
Whether you call this Gingerbread Loaf, Gingerbread Bread (is it even a thing?), Gingerbread Snack Cake, or simply Gingerbread Cake, it doesn’t matter. It will be delicious anyway!
More gingerbread recipes:
- Gingerbread truffles (vegan)
- Instant Pot Gingerbread Cheesecake (not vegan)
Gingerbread flavour wasn’t popular in Russia during holiday season when I was little. We had our own version of Gingerbread but it was more peppery than gingery. It was also eaten all throughout the year, not just during winter.
December for me smelled like mandarin oranges. Back when I was little, when Russia was still Soviet Union and store shelves were bare, those small orange jewels were a wonderful holiday treat – rare and precious. We even hung clementines on the Christmas tree as decorations.
Cinnamon was primerily a fall spice and ginger was foreign and unfamiliar.
Now that I’ve lived in Canada for over two decades, gingerbread means holidays. I started listening to Christmas music last week and we are about to put up our Christmas tree and this Vegan Gingerbread Cake will be the perfect accompaniment to the songs and twinkle lights.
Ingredients to make Vegan Gingerbread Cake
The only unconventional ingredient in this Vegan Gingerbread Cake Recipe is applesauce. I use it in place of extra oil. If you don’t want to use applesauce, you could use extra oil.
- Flour
- Brown sugar
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Gingerbread spices (I make my own with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves)
- Canola oil (or any other flavourless oil like vegetable oil or grapeseed oil)
- Fancy molasses
- Applesauce
- Water
How to make Vegan Gingerbread Cake
This Vegan Gingerbread Cake is super easy to make – just mix everything in a bowl and pour into an oiled and floured cake pan. It totally goes onto my Mom-recipe list.
- Combine all the dry ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until the flour disappears. Do not overmix!!!
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake!
So easy!
I use unsweetened apple sauce instead of eggs and some oil; it also adds some sweetness. Brown sugar and molasses add a distinct punch of flavour and colour. Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves mingle together in the batter and make the kitchen smell like home and childhood and magic.
Vegan Gingerbread Cake is deliciously spicy, soft and light. It’s perfect for an afternoon snack or morning cup of coffee!
More vegan cake recipes:
I started making vegan cakes a few years ago and I haven’t looked back. I really don’t miss butter or eggs or milk in them – if made properly they are moist and soft and absolutely delicious!
Don’t forget to watch the video to see how easy it is to make this one-bowl vegan gingerbre
Vegan Gingerbread Cake
- cake pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ginger *
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon *
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg *
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves *
- 1/4 cup Canola oil (you can use any flavourless oil you'd like)
- 1/2 cup fancy molasses
- 1/2 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients and mix well making sure that there are no lumps.
- Add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until the flour disappears.Do not overmix or the cake will turn out gummy.
- Grease and flour an 8-inch cake pan.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 50-55 minutes or until cake is baked through and there are no crumbs sticking to a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake for testing doneness. Note: my oven usually takes longer for everything, so start checking after 40 minutes or so.
- Dust with icing sugar and eat either warm or cool. It stays soft and moist for a couple of days if it lasts this long.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Yang says
I love that gingerbread cake! It looks so beautiful and delicious. I have never had a gingerbread cake before, but I will be baking this one next week. It’s going to be my first time. I will follow your recipe carefully, and I hope mine would turn out as good as yours. Thanks for the recipe!
Santini says
So love this! Can’t wait! I’m a vegan and this is perfect for me! Thank you for sharing!
Lauren says
Hi!
I live in Australia so measurements don’t tend to be accurate when I use cups here. Do you happen to have the grams/mls (or ounces etc) measurements for this recipe? Thanks!
Julia says
I just added a button/link to the recipe that should let you convert cups to grams. It’s an automated conversion so I do not know if it works well or not.
Mindy says
Made this last night and this recipe is definitely a keeper! I made 2, one vegan for my adult son who was craving the vegan gingerbread from whole foods, and another gluten free (used Pillsbury all-purpose gluten free mix in equal amounts flour is called for). He tried both and said they were both equally good, my husband and daughter ate the gluten free one and enjoyed too! This has a nice full-bodied burst of flavor with a perfect blend of spices, sweetness and moistness. We topped with a dusting of powdered sugar and was plenty good enough that way , but cream cheese frosting would have been divine on this too. This is super quick to whip up and usually would have these ingredients on hand, except the molasses (I am out now after making 2) but will keep on hand to whip this up for a cozy fall/winter treat, I do love molasses! Thank you!
Julia says
Thank you so much for your detailed review! I am so glad you loved the cake and I’m really glad it worked with gluten-free flour also. It would definitely be great with cream cheese icing! Yum! I also use molasses for gingerbread only but it keeps for a long time usually. Happy halloween!
Joyce says
Very tasty recipe. I included some wheat bran, oat bran, whole gold flax seed, lemon zest, zested fresh ginger and substituted apple cider for the water.
Julia says
I love your changes! Did you reduce sugar a little bit since apple cider is a bit sweet?
isabel says
thank you for this delicious recipe. For once, I had all the ingredients on hand. Very easy to make and excellent flavour.
Imagelicious says
I’m really glad you liked it! Thank you for your feedback!
Kat Mortensen says
Can I substitute almond milk for the water?
Imagelicious says
I haven’t tried myself, but I don’t see why not.
Heidi says
I’m not a very experienced baker and I’ve never used any type of Molasses. I will look for the cooking kind!
Which cake is more moist, this one or the pumpkin spice cake? Also, you said to use gingerbread spices. Is that a bottled kind that I can find among the rest of the spices at the store?
Imagelicious says
They are about the same in terms of moistness. You can follow the pumpkin spice recipe but use the actual spices from the gingerbread recipe or use bottled/premixed gingerbread spices, you can usually find them at bulk foods or baking aisles
Heidi says
Would Blackstrap molasses work?
Imagelicious says
I’ve never cooked or baked with blackstrap molasses. According to this article (http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-deal-with-blackstrap-70853) it is quite bitter. If you are ok with buying it, then maybe use a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses and add a bit of brown sugar to compensate for the bitterness? I’m guessing here as I haven’t actually used that kind of molasses. Do they have Cooking molasses? That one is interchangeable with fancy molasses I think. It’s usually in the baking aisle, near sugar
Kathy Welch says
Blackstrap molasses is the only kind I’ve ever used, and I’ve made lots of gingerbread, but this will be my first vegan version. Thanks for the recipe!
Heidi says
Is there anything else I can use in place of fancy molasses? ( having trouble finding some!)
Imagelicious says
Do you have access to any other kinds of molasses? Molasses is what is usually used in Gingerbread- it adds a characteristic flavour. If you can’t find any kind of molasses, then use this recipe, it has more sugar and more water instead of molasses, just use gingerbread spices instead of pumpkin spices: http://www.imagelicious.peppercorncreative.com/blog/pumpkin-spice-vegan-cake
Heidi says
Do you drain the apple sauce at all? Usually in vegan baking you do, but I am not sure with this recipe since it doesn’t mention it.
Imagelicious says
Hello Heidi – I don’t drain the apple sauce. I use this brand, I get it at Costco: http://applesnax.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Applesnax-22oz.jpg
VeenaAzmanov says
That looks so gorgeous Julia I can almost smell the ginger bread spices.
Imagelicious says
Thanks so much 🙂 My kitchen smelled like Christmas for days!
Arlene Mobley says
Gingerbread is one of my favorite holiday flavors. Your cake looks so moist and delicious!
Imagelicious says
Thank you! It is surprisingly moist for a cake that uses very little oil and no butter or eggs
Sarah @ TheFitCookie says
I remember my mom making gingerbread when we were kids – it was more like a cake than a bread. We would top hot gingerbread with honey butter. So good!! This just reminded me that I miss it and need to make some this month 🙂
Imagelicious says
I hope you try this recipe – it’s definitely one of my favourites right now!
Melissa says
I love gingerbread flavors! This cake looks amazing! I am definitely putting it on my holiday baking list!
Imagelicious says
I hope you try this! So easy and so delicious (and if not healthy, then at least not too bad for the holidays, which means you get to eat more of the bad stuff 🙂 )
Janet @ the taste space says
I like how you literally filed it under "Mom recipe". Perfect for the holidays, now I want to make it too!! 🙂
Imagelicious says
Hey Janet – yep, it’s a totally mom recipe 🙂 I made it a few times and it takes only a few minutes to mix together! I hope you try it since it’s vegan
Shefali says
Hi!
Just found your recipe on pinterest. Loved it for its simplicity 🙂
What would you suggest I could use instead of Molasses? I don’t eat eggs.
Julia says
Unfortunately Molasses is what gives Gingerbread its characteristic flavour. I would suggest trying to find molasses. It keeps for a very long time in the pantry. If you don’t want to look for it, try using Golden Syrup, although it’s a bit sweeter than molasses so you might need to reduce sugar.
Алена says
Спасибо, Юля! Еще и его попробую, у меня все имбирные кексы от тебя – фавориты зимней выпечки)
Imagelicious says
Спасибо Алена 🙂 Надеюсь, что понравится! Это на данный момент мой любимый кекс… легкий, не сильно вредный 🙂
Gloria Duggan says
Yup…this is my kind of breakfast. I could eat this anytime of the day. Gingerbread is tops on my holiday list.
Imagelicious says
Now that my christmas tree is up I should make this cake again!