Vegan Gingerbread & Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

This vegan gingerbread cake recipe is an easy cake to make and is the perfect sweet treat to have this holiday season with its warming spices. The ideal partner with a mug of hot chocolate by the fire on a rainy day.

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As gingerbread recipes go, this one is a lot more healthy than you might think as it’s refined sugar free, dairy free and packed full of wholesome ingredients. You can even make it healthier still by excluding the chocolate chips and chocolate drizzle.

Have you tried these gooey millionaire’s shortbread bars yet? Or this rich and luxurious avocado chocolate mousse?

We have made this recipe without the need for vegan butter as we know many people aren’t a fan of it.

For full instructions, please scroll down to the recipe card below. The perfect recipe to make on the lead up to Christmas day – especially if you have people coming who don’t like the traditional boozy Christmas cake or mince pies.

Ingredients List

• 100g Plain All Purpose Flour
• 125g Whole Wheat Flour (you can change this for oat flour, or simply use all plain flour)
• 125g Coconut Sugar (or brown sugar if you prefer)
• 100g Ground Almonds (almond meal, or almond flour also works in this recipe)
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 300 mls Almond Milk (you can use any plant-based milk you like)
• 3 tbsp Coconut oil (you could also use olive oil, however this will change the taste of your loaf)
• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
• 5 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or one vanilla pod)
• 1 Flax Egg (flaxseed and water)
• 1 tbsp Blackstrap Molasses
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

The Health Benefits Of Molasses

By adding in blackstrap molasses to your loaf it will give it more of that classic gingerbread flavor. However, not only does it takes bakes like this to a whole new level, sweet molasses also comes with many health benefits.

Did you know, just one tablespoon offers…

• 20% daily iron recommendation
• 10% calcium daily value
• 10% magnesium daily value
• 9% potassium daily value
• 8% vitamin B6 daily value

How To Make This Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Recipe

Preheat your oven to 180 C Fan.

Start this vegan gingerbread loaf recipe by making your flax egg by mixing 1 tablespoon of flax seeds with 1 tablespoon of water and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

Line your loaf tin with parchment paper and place to one side.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then add in the wet ingredients (including your egg replacer – the flax egg) and combine. Fold gently with a wooden spoon as over mixing will make your loaf dense and rubbery.

Pour in your cake batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

The baking time may alter sightly depending on your oven so from 40 minutes onwards, make sure you keep an eye on it. However, don’t keep opening the oven door too much if you can help it as this can affect the outcome of your loaf.

Leave in the tin to cool to room temperature before removing to cool further on a cooling rack.

Optional Chocolate Topping

Once your loaf cake has cooled, melt your chocolate and coconut oil in a bain marie.

Once melted, drizzle the chocolate over the top of the cake. You can do this by dipping the end of a fork into the chocolate and waving the fork from side to side over the top of the cake. Of course, could always use a piping bag if you wanted to do neater patterns.

How To Store This Loaf Cake

Once completely cold, you can store this ginger cake in an airtight container in a cool place.

However, keeping it in the fridge could make it more dense so it’s best left out of the fridge.

You could also cover it loosely in plastic wrap and leave it out on the side. Just make sure it doesn’t get warm or start to sweat in the plastic wrap.

Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Recipe

Recipe Notes

Go Naked

Next time, perhaps if you want your vegan gingerbread recipe to be a little healthier, simply exclude the topping and take out the chocolate chips. It tastes great both with and without the chocolate so you don’t really need it.

Add More Chocolate

However, if you wanted to add more chocolate, you could also add some melted vegan white chocolate to your topping for extra decorative effect.

Drizzle With Icing Sugar

If you don’t want to add more chocolate to this recipe, instead you could drizzle the top of your vegan ginger loaf cake with icing sugar. To do this simply mix powdered sugar with a little milk or water until you get the consistency you’re happy with an drizzle over the top. Just make sure your loaf is cold before you do this.

Spice It Up

If you love ginger bakes to be super spicy, try adding in a little more ginger to create a spicy cake bursting with ginger. However, may try a little at a time as it will get very spicy very quickly! You could even add in a few small chunks of stem ginger to your batter to have bursts of ginger throughout.

Cream Cheese

Another topping that works really well with this is vegan cream cheese or yogurt and a squeeze of lemon juice. It’s also a great way to hide any blemishes should your cake not come out perfectly! Either piping it on with a piping bag, or simply spreading it on with a spatula both work well.

A sprinkling of lemon zest across the top finishes off a cream cheese icing perfectly, cutting through the sweetness slightly.

Vegan baking doesn’t have to be plain and boring, or complicated. It can actually be very simple and delicious with a little bit of research into the ingredients you need.

If you’re looking for another great recipe, perhaps try out this frozen yogurt bark recipe that tastes delicious and is low in calories.

Of course, we think this is the best vegan gingerbread loaf cake but we’d love to know what you thought of it in the comments below.