Easy Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake

Nothing says “holidays” to me than the flavor of gingerbread. I have a long standing love affair with it and have loved its spicy and warm flavors in cookies, cakes and lattes (it was a sad day for me when Starbucks discontinued their sugar free syrup) since I was a child. It’s not for everyone but for those of us that love its familiar flavors around the holiday season it’s an essential part of celebrating!

I have another gingerbread cake recipe on the blog but that was a riff on a shoofly cake I’d been making for years and I just amped up the flavors to be reminiscent of gingerbread. I always wanted to make a proper gingerbread loaf style cake like you’d get in a coffee shop and I believe this is the one! It’s very simple to make and is tender and delicious and can be customized in so many ways. Let’s dive into the recipe!

My recipe employs no special egg replacers like flax meal or powdered substitutes but uses some vegan yogurt for moistness and flavor. A bit of orange zest amplifies the spices and is a soft background note that makes the flavors sing. There’s also a few secret ingredients like a bit of cocoa powder and black pepper! You don’t really taste them but they add depth of flavor and make the spices taste more well rounded and spicier.

Like a lot of my recipes, I’m using the “reverse creaming” method which adds the fat to the dry ingredients first to coat them and prevent them from forming gluten which can result in a tough bake. The added advantage of this method is that you also can’t over mix the batter! It makes it almost foolproof and a great recipe to make with the kids.

Make it your own!

• Add dried fruits and/or nuts like cranberries and pecans.
• Add chocolate chunks or chips!
• Add a simple glaze to the top. You can find one of mine here.
• Add cream cheese frosting for an over the top version! Get my recipe here!

This cake cuts and actually tastes better the next day although it’s hard to resist a piece of warm gingerbread! This cake freezes well if there’s any left (which I doubt there will be). It’s also great as a holiday gift and don’t forget to include the recipe! I hope you enjoy it and happy holidays.

Easy Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake

Recipe by Kreg

5.0 from 5 votes

Course: DessertsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

50

minutes

An easy and delicious one bowl vegan gingerbread that tastes like the holidays!

Ingredients

• Dry Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process or regular)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• Wet Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup vegan yogurt (plain or vanilla)

• 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses (I used Grandma’s brand)

• 1 cup hot water (not boiling)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest (optional, but recommended)

• Toppings

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• glaze or frosting if desired

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° and grease and flour an 8” or 9” loaf baking pan.
• In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the vegetable oil and vegan yogurt and mix well until the flour is coated with the fat. We’re trying to prevent gluten from forming when the wet ingredients are added. It should look crumbly and that’s correct.
• Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well. At this point, you can’t really over mix as we’ve prevented the dry ingredients from forming gluten strands by coating them with fat first but scrape down the bowl once or twice and make sure everything is well incorporated and there are no lumps.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap on the counter a few times forcefully to remove any large air bubbles. Sprinkle with granulated sugar evenly over the top and bake anywhere from 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Every oven differs and I bake with convection that cooks faster so I always start checking earlier rather than later when baking. I also place my loaf pan on a baking tray to help diffuse the heat and keep the bottom from browning too much by protecting it a bit. It also makes it easier to remove from the oven.
• Let the cake cool for 20 minutes or so then run a knife along the ledges to loosen it and turn it upside down on a cake rack or with your hand then flip it right side up to cool completely. Frost or glaze if desired.

Recipe Video

Notes

• You can use plain unsweetened vegan yogurt or a vanilla sweetened variety just don’t use a fruit flavor obviously.
  
• Sulphured molasses is very bitter so use unsulphured.
  
• Water should be hot to the touch but not boiling.
  
• I use vegetable oil as it keeps the cake moister longer. I suppose melted vegan butter would work as a replacement or even coconut oil but I haven’t tested it.
  
• This could be made gluten free with a 1:1 flour swap but I haven’t tested it.

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