The festive season is all about cake for me and this gingerbread coffee cake is a main feature each and every year in our house. It's a true delight of the wintertime with its cozy flavors and its crumbly streusel and gingerbread men on top.
What makes this cake even better is that it is topped with a gooey, homemade caramel which takes less than 5 minutes to make. It compliments the cake beautifully.
When this time of year comes around, it's always about the christmassy spices we use in a cake. This recipe uses four main spices. Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Each of them contributes their own uniqueness.
Some other festive recipes that you will enjoy include my vegan ferrero rocher truffles, my vegan chocolate orange cake, vegan cranberry ginger cake and my vegan melted snowman cookies.
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Why You Will Love This Cake
- A Great Festive Treat - There isn't a better cake to eat during the festive season. Gingerbread cake makes the house smell amazing when it is inside the oven and it isn't Christmas without it. If you're not having a coffee alongside it, don't forget to serve it with my vegan protein hot chocolate instead.
- The Streusel - You can't have a classic coffee cake without a crumbly layer of streusel on top. For me, it is the most comforting part of the cake. For more streusel inspiration, also check out my vegan raspberry muffins and my vegan cranberry orange cake.
- Wonderful Texture - The crunch of the streusel combined with the softness of the cake makes every mouthful of this cake an absolute dream.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This gingerbread coffee cake recipe is completely vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Apple cider vinegar - The vinegar needs to be stirred into the soy milk in order to make dairy-free buttermilk. It will curdle before being poured into the cake batter in order to create an airy texture.
- Self-rising flour - I use this instead of all-purpose flour to help the cake rise a little more.
- Ground ginger - As this is a gingerbread cake, I decided to use more of this spice than any of the others (ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and allspice). It's also my favorite of all the festive spices so I certainly don't hold back! Need more ginger recipes in your life? If that's a yes, also see my delicious vegan gingerbread loaf cake and vegan ginger cake.
- Canola oil - This is the perfect oil for moist cakes. I'm not a fan of drier cakes so this is always my go-to oil choice these days.
- Coconut cream - Add this to the homemade caramel mixture. You can find coconut cream at the top of a coconut milk can. It is the thick part.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- If you'd prefer a more lightly spiced gingerbread cake, you can reduce the spice amounts by between one-eighth of a teaspoon and one-quarter of a teaspoon. I love my festive cakes to taste strong but that is just my personal preference. My vegan cinnamon streusel banana bread is perfect for those of you that enjoy less spices in your cakes, but still want a slight hint of them.
- The gingerbread men are used in this recipe purely for decoration purposes. They're so much fun and they also match the cake flavor so I thought they'd be a nice touch. If you can't find any dairy-free ones or you simply don't like gingerbread men, you can leave them out and just make the cake instead.
How To Make Gingerbread Coffee Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Add all the streusel ingredients to a small bowl.
2: Combine the streusel ingredients until the mixture becomes crumbly.
3: Line and grease a square baking pan. Set aside.
4: Mix together the dairy-free buttermilk ingredients and let it curdle.
5: Combine the dry cake ingredients inside large bowl.
6: Add in the wet ingredients and fold until a smooth cake batter forms.
7: Pour the cake batter into the lined baking pan.
8: Sprinkle the streusel onto the cake batter, then bake inside the oven.
9: Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely.
10: Slice the cake and place a piece of it on a plate.
11: Make the dairy-free caramel.
12: Pour the caramel over the top of the cake and press a gingerbread man into the cake.
Expert Tips
Don't over-mix the cake batter - This gingerbread coffee cake is well known for having a super light texture. However, if you over-mix the cake batter, the gluten will be over-worked. Therefore, the cake will have a dense consistency. Gently, fold the cake batter until all the flour pockets are incorporated and no longer visible.
Cook the caramel slowly - The caramel sauce can burn very easily and quickly inside the pan if you aren't vigilant. Cook at a steady pace. Not only will cooking the caramel at a really high temperature cause it to stick to the saucepan, but it will also give it an unpleasant burnt taste.
Recipe FAQs
Coffee cakes are made in the same ways as a regular cakes are. However, the difference is that they tend to have a streusel crumble topping, whereas regular cakes will often have frosting.
This is because streusel-topped cakes are usually served with coffee inside both coffee shops and at home.
Coffee cakes are ordinary cakes which are baked in round and square cake pans. They are usually topped with streusel like many muffins. However, muffin batter is quite different to cake batter and therefore, they can't be seen as the same.
Store this cake inside the fridge for up to four days inside an airtight container. You can also store the caramel sauce inside the fridge. To make it runny again, place it inside the microwave in 5-10 second intervals.
More Vegan Streusel Cakes
If you tried this Gingerbread Coffee Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Easy Gingerbread Coffee Cake With Gingerbread Men
Ingredients
Streusel:
- 70 g dairy-free butter melted
- 140 g all-purpose flour
- 70 g brown sugar demerara
- Pinch of salt
Cake batter:
- 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
- 1.5 teaspoons ground ginger
- 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 0.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 0.25 teaspoon all spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 0.25 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 75 ml canola oil
- 75 g dairy-free yogurt room temperature
Caramel sauce:
- 120 g coconut cream thick part on top of coconut milk can
- 0.5 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 90 g light brown sugar
- 0.5 Tablespoon dairy-free butter
- Pinch of salt
Extra Topping:
- Mini dairy-free gingerbread men to taste
Instructions
Making the streusel:
- Begin by making the streusel crumble topping. Combine all the streusel ingredients inside a bowl. Continue to combine with a small utensil or your fingers under the mixture becomes dry and crumbly. Set aside in the fridge until needed.
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F). Line an 8-inch, square baking pan with parchment paper and grease with dairy-free butter.
- Now, make your buttermilk. Stir the apple cider vinegar into the soy milk. It will take about 8 minutes to curdle. Measure out all the other gingerbread cake ingredients while you wait.
Making the cake batter:
- To a large bowl, add the self-rising flour, granulated sugar, light brown soft sugar, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine.
- Pour in your dairy-free buttermilk, canola oil and dairy-free yogurt then fold the gingerbread cake batter until just combined all flour pockets are incorporated. Don't over-mix.
- Pour the batter into the lined baking tin and sprinkle the streusel over it so that all the batter is covered.
Baking the cake:
- Bake in the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes. Every oven is different so baking times will vary. If the streusel is starting over-bake a little towards the end, reduce temperature to 170 Celsius.
Making the caramel sauce:
- Now the cake is inside the oven, it's time to make the caramel sauce. Inside a medium saucepan, add all of the caramel ingredients. Stir constantly over a medium heat until the coconut cream melts.
- When the caramel starts to bubble, reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 5 minutes or so. Keep stirring the caramel continuously.
- Let the dairy-free caramel cool so it thickens a little.
Final touches:
- Take the gingerbread cake out from the oven and let it cool completely. A skewer will come out clean when it is ready. Slice the cake into squares.
- Pour the caramel sauce over the top of the cake slices and serve.
Video
Notes
- This gingerbread coffee cake is well known for having a super light texture. However, if you over-mix the cake batter, the gluten will be over-worked. Therefore, the cake will have a dense consistency. Gently, fold the cake batter until all the flour pockets are incorporated and no longer visible.
- The caramel sauce can burn very easily and quickly inside the pan if you aren't vigilant. Cook at a steady pace. Not only will cooking the caramel at a really high temperature cause it to stick to the saucepan, but it will also give it an unpleasant burnt taste.
Kelly Sanderson says
Perfect for Christmas time 🙂
DJ says
Thank you, Kelly! 🙂