This lightly spiced and super easy vegan ginger cake is so comforting towards the end of the year. It's perfect when accompanied by a warm drink such as, coffee or hot chocolate and when I make it, my day always becomes better.
The soft loaf cakes are complimented beautifully by a delicious coffee glaze which isn't too thick or too thin. The whole recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make which is great and I think you'll love it!
I highly recommend that you serve this ginger cake with warm dairy-free custard. Whenever I've had ginger cake in the past, custard has always been by its side. They compliment each other greatly. Another amazing option would be dairy-free single cream.
For more tasty cake inspiration, also see my vegan gingerbread loaf cake, vegan carrot cake and vegan tiramisu chocolate cake which won't disappoint.
Jump to:
Why You Will Love This Cake
- Autumnal Flavors - When I think of ginger flavored desserts, I always think of the fall period. Ground ginger, along with the likes of ground, cinnamon and ground nutmeg is a spice that always comes out from my cupboard at the beginning of September and in these particular cakes, ground ginger works beautifully, just like it does in my vegan gingerbread loaf cake. It isn't too dominant and has a nice balance with the glaze.
- Delicious Glaze - I decided to go with a coffee flavored glaze for the ginger cakes. I didn't add too much coffee to the powdered sugar as I didn't want to overpower the cake. It's fairly thin and totally mouth-watering like the one that I made for my vegan chocolate bundt cake.
- Amazing Texture - This cake has a fantastic consistency. It's incredibly fluffy and airy which is how I like my cakes to be. As the cake his this light texture, it means that it is very easy to eat lots of it in a small amount of time! Moreish would be a good word to describe this ginger cake!
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This vegan ginger cake recipe is wholly vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Apple cider vinegar - You need to mix this vinegar into the soy milk to create buttermilk. This mixture is so important as it creates the light and airy texture that the cake has.
- Light brown sugar - As this is an autumnal recipe, I love to use brown sugar are more specifically, light brown soft sugar. The molasses inside the light brown sugar contributes to the gorgeous flavor that this cake has.
- Ground ginger - Don't use fresh ginger for this recipe. Ground ginger is what you need as it is easy to add to the cake batter and it also has a much more dominant instant flavor than fresh ginger, which is better for savory recipes.
- Canola oil - This type of oil is the same thing as rapeseed oil. What you call it depends on where you're from in the world.
- Instant coffee powder - Avoid using fresh coffee granules for this recipe when adding it to the glaze mixture. It won't dissolve and therefore, you will have large, overpowering coffee lumps. Use instant coffee powder instead like I did for my eggless coffee loaf cake and vegan espresso chocolate chip cookies recipes.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- When I serve this vegan ginger cake with dairy-free custard, I often leave out the glaze topping. This is optional and depends on your personal preferences. I just love the focus to be solely on the cake instead of having the glaze melt into the custard. When you want your custard to be extra sweet, this may be a great option.
- If you wish, you can add a filling to the cake batter. Just fold it in when you have a smooth cake batter. As this is a fall cake, you could try adding chopped pecans like I did in my vegan maple pecan cake. Other types of nuts that work great include chopped walnuts and chopped hazelnuts.
How To Make Vegan Ginger Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Grease the loaf tins with vegan butter.
2: Make the vegan buttermilk by mixing the soy milk and apple cider vinegar together.
3: Combine the dry ingredients inside a large mixing bowl.
4: Pour in the wet ingredients and fold the batter until smooth.
5: Pour the cake batter into the loaf tins. Bake until golden brown.
6: Let the two cakes cool in their tins.
7: Make the coffee glaze. Spoon it over the cakes.
Expert Tips
Use ground ginger - If you want balanced ginger flavors in this recipe which are fairly strong but not overwhelming, use ground ginger. Don't use fresh ginger for these cakes as it won't integrate as well. You won't be able to taste it much, unless you use a lot.
Don't over-mix the cake batter - Instead of mixing the batter vigorously, simply fold by hand until no flour pockets remain. This will ensure that the ginger cake doesn't become dense as a result of over-working the gluten.
Recipe FAQs
No, ginger cake and gingerbread cake are different. Ginger cake is usually only spiced with ginger, whereas, gingerbread cake contains more spices such as, cinnamon and nutmeg.
This can happen when too much raising agent is added to a cake batter. Make sure that you measure out the raising agents accurately to avoid this issue.
Store this cake inside an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or inside the fridge for up to four days.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
If you tried this Vegan Ginger 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!
Best Vegan Ginger Cake with Coffee Glaze
Ingredients
Ginger Cake Batter:
- 200 ml soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 185 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 3.5 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 50 ml canola oil rapeseed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coffee Glaze:
- 160 g powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 2 Tablespoons warm water
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F).
- Grease two 20cm x 10cm cake tins with vegan butter then set aside.
Make the cake:
- Firstly, prepare the vegan buttermilk. Mix the apple cider vinegar into the soy milk then let it curdle for 8 minutes. While you wait, measure out the other ingredients.
- To a mixing bowl, flour, light brown sugar, ground ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Mix these dry ingredients well.
- Pour your vegan buttermilk, canola oil and vanilla extract into the dry ingredients then fold the ingredients together until all the flour pockets are gone.
- Pour the ginger cake batter into the two greased loaf cake tins then bake the cakes in center of the oven for 20 minutes. When the ginger cakes are ready, a skewer will come out of them completely clean.
- Let the cakes cool in their tins for 15 minutes then place them onto a cooling rack for a little longer.
Make the coffee glaze:
- To a small bowl, add the powdered sugar and the instant coffee powder.
- Mix in the warm water until a glaze forms.
- Spoon the coffee glaze over the two ginger cakes.
Video
Notes
- If you want balanced ginger flavors in this recipe which are fairly strong but not overwhelming, use ground ginger. Don't use fresh ginger for these cakes as it won't integrate as well. You won't be able to taste it much, unless you use a lot.
- Instead of mixing the batter vigorously, simply fold by hand until no flour pockets remain. This will ensure that the ginger cake doesn't become dense as a result of over-working the gluten.
Susan Fielding says
Delicious recipe thank you.
Jen says
I'm going to try this tonight!