Cranberries are one of the fruits that make a cake extra christmassy and this cranberry ginger cake recipe captures the joy of the festive period with its streusel topping and hint of ginger.
The sweetness of the fresh cranberries compliments the spiced nature of the cake beautifully. It's so moreish and I'm always left wishing that I'd baked another one once it's gone!
I always make a homemade cranberry butter sauce with this recipe to increase the festivity even more. Pour it over the cake and serve.
If you want more cake ideas for Christmas time, also check out my vegan gingerbread coffee cake, vegan chocolate bundt cake and vegan apple cinnamon cake.
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Why You Will Love This Cake
- The Best Texture - This cake is honestly one of the lightest I have ever made. The ingredient ratios turned out to be perfect and as long as your technique is good, you will get the same results!
- The Cranberry Butter Sauce - The dairy-free butter sauce is my favorite part of the recipe as it is infused with cranberries. You can never have too many cranberries and I love that they in the sauce, as well as the cake. In many ways it is very similar to the compotes in my vegan blueberry cream pie and vegan strawberry cheesecake tacos.
- Easy to Make - It's so easy to make this soft dessert. All you need to do is make the streusel and the cake batter, fold in the cranberries, sprinkle the streusel onto the batter inside the pan and bake.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This cranberry ginger cake recipe is fully vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Dairy-free Butter - This is the main ingredient for the streusel. Use a fork or your hands to incorporate it into the other ingredients until the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Apple Cider Vinegar - The most important ingredient for the cake batter. Without it, the cake wouldn't have the light and airy texture that it has. After being stirred into the soy milk, it will react with the leaving agents to create the most soft consistency.
- Self-rising Flour - I like to use this, as opposed to regular all-purpose flour due to the fact that it helps the cake to rise more.
- Ground Ginger - Usually, I would add more spices to these kinds of cakes, but in this case, I thought the simplicity of just adding ginger would work better. That turned out to be the right call!
- Fresh Cranberries - I haven't tested frozen cranberries for this recipe, but fresh ones worked perfectly. I also used them for the homemade butter sauce with great success. Check out some more of my cranberry recipes like my vegan cranberry orange muffins and vegan cranberry orange cake.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- I didn't add too much ginger to the cake batter as some people prefer a more lightly-spiced ginger cake. However, fell free to add an extra teaspoon or so if you love a stronger ginger cake. You can also add less like I did in my vegan gingerbread loaf cake. Both ways are so delicious and there is no right or wrong opinion.
- If you are a true lover of cranberries, you can add a pinch of extra cranberries to sauce for sweeter outcome. I often do this but don't add too many as the ratio between the cranberries and the other ingredients will become disproportionate.
How To Make Cranberry Ginger Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Line a square cake pan with parchment paper.
2: Prepare the buttermilk and let it curdle.
3: Make the streusel topping.
4: Combine the dry cake ingredients inside a large bowl.
5: Add the wet ingredients and the cranberries.
6: Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
7: Sprinkle the streusel crumble onto the raw cake batter. Bake the cake.
8: Let the baked cake cool.
9: Add the cranberry butter sauce ingredients to a saucepan.
10: Continue to stir the sauce until it thickens.
11: Pour the cranberry butter sauce over the cooled cake.
Expert Tips
Cook the sauce for long enough - Make sure that you cook your cranberry butter for long enough so that it can thicken inside the saucepan. All leave it to stand for a short while so that it can cool. It will continue to thicken.
Allow the buttermilk to curdle - Once the dairy-free buttermilk is curdling, don't rush to pour it into the dry cake mixture. Give it time to thicken and completely curdle for the recommended amount of time.
Recipe FAQs
Yes you can and the general rule of thumb is that, 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger is equal to 1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger and 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger is equal to 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger.
Yes you can. However, always wash them before use. After that, feel free to add them straight to a cake batter, chopped or whole.
Store this cake at room temperature or inside the fridge for up to three days inside an airtight container. The cranberry butter sauce can also be stored inside the fridge for the same amount of time.
More Fruity Vegan Cake Recipes
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Cranberry Ginger Cake With Homemade Butter Sauce
Ingredients
Streusel topping:
- 80 g dairy-free butter melted
- 160 g all-purpose flour
- 80 g brown sugar demerara
- Pinch of salt
Cranberry ginger cake:
- 270 ml soy milk
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 270 g self-rising flour sifted
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 50 g light brown soft sugar
- 2.5 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 0.25 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 75 ml canola oil
- 75 g dairy-free yogurt room temperature
- 80 g fresh cranberries halved and lightly dusted in flour
Butter sauce:
- 50 g dairy-free butter
- 170 g light brown sugar
- 170 ml dairy-free heavy cream
- 0.25 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 g fresh cranberries
Instructions
Making the streusel:
- Start by making your streusel topping. Combine all the streusel crumble ingredients inside a small bowl with either your hands or a fork until the mixture becomes crumbly and fully incorporated.
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 177 Celsius (350F) and line an 8-inch, square baking pan with parchment paper. Also grease the parchment paper with a little dairy-free butter.
- Also make the buttermilk by stirring the apple cider vinegar into the soy milk. Set aside for approximately 8 minutes so that it can curdle.
- Measure out your other cake ingredients while you wait for the buttermilk.
Making the cake batter:
- Add the self-rising flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, ground ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a large bowl and mix well to combine.
- Now pour in your curdled buttermilk, along with the canola oil and the dairy-free yogurt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with care until a cake batter forms and the flour pockets are almost completely combined. Don't over-mix.
- Finally, fold in the fresh cranberries and fold in the final bits of flour so the batter becomes smooth.
- Pour the cranberry ginger cake batter into the lined baking pan. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake batter so that it completely covered.
Baking the cake:
- Place the cake into the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes. Every oven is different so baking timings can vary. If the streusel starts to over-bake towards the end, reduce the oven temperature to 170 Celsius.
Making the cranberry butter sauce:
- To make the cranberry butter sauce topping, combine all the ingredients inside a saucepan.
- Place the pan over a medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce to a low heat.
- Cook for a further 10 minutes so that the cranberries can soften. The sauce will also thicken.
Final touches:
- Take your cranberry ginger cake out from the oven and let it cool fully. A skewer will come out clean when it is ready. Slice the cake into even squares. Pour the cranberry butter sauce over the top of the cake and serve.
Video
Notes
- Make sure that you cook your cranberry butter for long enough so that it can thicken inside the saucepan. All leave it to stand for a short while so that it can cool. It will continue to thicken.
- Once the dairy-free buttermilk is curdling, don't rush to pour it into the dry cake mixture. Give it time to thicken and completely curdle for the recommended amount of time.
Federico Motta says
This cake is so good. The sauce is so moreish and compliments the flavors beautifully.
DJ says
Thank you Federico! Much appreciated 🙂