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Vegan Gingerbread Cake

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This Vegan Gingerbread Cake is perfect 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.

Vegan Gingerbread Cake in a pan right out of the oven with some icing sugar just falling over it

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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 twice last week it was so good. And I ate them both almost entirely by myself.

My husband isn’t into sweets too much and he’s not a huge fan of gingerbread spices either. So, I ate at least three quarters of both of the cakes. I feel a little bit guilty, but not really as I am planning on making this cake again and again and again.

Whether you call this Gingerbread Loaf, Gingerbread Bread (is it even a thing?) or Gingerbread Cake, it doesn’t matter. It will be delicious anyway!

Top down view of Vegan Gingerbread Cake in a pan, covered in icing sugar. More christmas decorations are around the pan

More gingerbread recipes:

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 almost two decades, gingerbread means holidays. I started listening to Christmas music last week and we just put up our Christmas tree and this Vegan Gingerbread Cake was a perfect accompaniment to the songs and twinkle lights.

Vegan Gingerbread Cake in a pan with a slice cut out and half eaten, icing sugar is falling over it like snow

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.

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!

Top down view of Vegan Gingerbread Cake with a slice cut out and half eaten

Watch my video of me making the One-Bowl Vegan Gingerbread Cake. I even did my nails for the first time since I had the baby!

This Vegan Gingerbread Cake is perfect 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 | Imagelicious
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5 from 7 votes

Vegan Gingerbread Cake

This Vegan Gingerbread Cake is perfect 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 | Imagelicious
Makes 1 8-inch cake
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, gingerbread, vegan
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 265kcal
Author Julia

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 vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup fancy molasses
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
  • 1/2 cup water
US Customary - Metric

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 and mix until flour disappears.
  • 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

* You can use your favourite gingerbread spices instead of what I listed. You'll need 1 tablespoon of the spices or a bit more if you'd like a more pronounced gingerbread flavour.

Nutrition

Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 86mg | Potassium: 438mg | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin C: 0.2% | Calcium: 9.3% | Iron: 12.6%
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Nutrition Facts
Vegan Gingerbread Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 265 Calories from Fat 63
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7g 11%
Saturated Fat 5g 25%
Sodium 86mg 4%
Potassium 438mg 13%
Total Carbohydrates 49g 16%
Sugars 30g
Protein 2g 4%
Vitamin C 0.2%
Calcium 9.3%
Iron 12.6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

This Vegan Gingerbread Cake is perfect 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 | Imagelicious

Comments

  1. 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!

    Reply

  3. 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!

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  4. 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!

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

  5. 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.

    Reply

  6. thank you for this delicious recipe. For once, I had all the ingredients on hand. Very easy to make and excellent flavour.

    Reply

  8. 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?

    Reply

    • 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

      Reply

    • 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

      Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

  11. 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.

    Reply

  14. 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 🙂

    Reply

      • 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.

      • 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.

  17. Спасибо, Юля! Еще и его попробую, у меня все имбирные кексы от тебя – фавориты зимней выпечки)

    Reply

    • Спасибо Алена 🙂 Надеюсь, что понравится! Это на данный момент мой любимый кекс… легкий, не сильно вредный 🙂

      Reply

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