You know it's the festive season when you're baking gingerbread treats. They're some of my favorite things to eat on the entire planet and this simple vegan gingerbread cake is a big reason as to why I love them so much.
This gorgeous wintertime dessert takes less than 30 minutes to make and it will totally have you drooling with its powerful flavors and viscous Biscoff glaze which drips down the sides of the cakes.
Serve this gingerbread cake warm with some cold dairy-free single cream on the side. The contrast between the two temperatures is beautiful and I recommend it to everyone.
Also be sure to try some more of my tasty cake recipes such as, my eggless coffee walnut cake loaf , vegan ginger cake, vegan gingerbread coffee cake and eggless chocolate oreo cake which are all delicious in different ways.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Amazing Glaze - The glaze elevates this loaf cake enormously. What is more perfect for vegan gingerbread cake, than a luscious and thick Lotus Biscoff glaze? It's so easy to make too which is great.
- Wonderful Flavors - Filled with the distinct taste of spices and speculoos, the loaf cakes are simply a thing of beauty. The combination of the warm, wholesome gingerbread flavors and the sweet glaze topping can't be beaten. They're so complimentary!
- Great for Christmas - This loaf cake is super festive just like my vegan chocolate orange cake, vegan cranberry ginger cake and vegan chocolate shortbread cookies, which are constant staples on the dining table every wintertime. It creates a beautiful scent while baking inside the oven and I can't wait for you to give it a try.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This vegan gingerbread loaf cake recipe is completely vegan and dairy free.
Ingredients Notes
- Apple cider vinegar - The apple cider vinegar has a very important role in this cake recipe. It needs to be stirred into the soy milk in order to create the vegan buttermilk. This mixture will then react with the leavening agents to give the cakes an excellent texture.
- Light brown sugar - I love to use light brown soft sugar in festive cakes like this as the molasses that it contains gives them an amazingly strong flavor, as well as a mouth-watering, soft consistency.
- Ground ginger - This is the main ingredient for a gingerbread cake. Although this is the primary spice, I also decided to add smaller amounts of others such as, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and allspice.
- Canola oil - Rapeseed oil is another name for canola oil which you might be familiar with. When I use this kind of oil, it gives the cakes a perfect level of moisture which no other oil has given to my cakes. See my vegan chocolate snickers cake and vegan lemon drizzle cake for more examples of delectable cakes which use canola oil.
- Biscoff spread - In this recipe, the Biscoff spread will be used for the glaze topping.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- A way that I often like to customize this cake is to add extra gingerbread or ginger flavors to the cake. Of course, this is totally optional. I always buy some extra vegan gingerbread or gingernut cookies from the grocery store and sprinkle the crumbs over the Biscoff glaze in the same way that I sprinkled walnuts over my vegan carrot walnut loaf cake. Just when you think that this cake recipe can't get any better, it certainly can!
- You can make this recipe gluten-free very easily. The two ingredients that you will need to swap out are the all-purpose flour and the Biscoff spread. The flour is easy to replace as most major grocery stores, sell 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour baking blends. A great alternative for the Biscoff spread is gluten-free cookie butter.
How To Make Vegan Gingerbread Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Grease the cake tins with vegan butter.
2: Make the vegan buttermilk.
3: Combine the dry ingredients inside a large bowl.
4: Add the wet ingredients to the bowl.
5: Fold the dry into the wet to create a cake batter.
6: Pour the mixture into the cake tins and bake.
7: Let the cakes cool fully.
8: Make the Biscoff glaze. Spoon it onto the cakes.
Expert Tips
Use fresh, in-date spices - If your ground spices such as, the ground ginger and ground cinnamon have been in the cupboard for a long time, the flavor may have weakened over the course of time. Check their use by date. The fresher the gingerbread spices, the more flavorsome the cakes will be.
Don't over-mix the cake batter - For a lighter, fluffier cake that isn't dense, just fold the cake batter until all of the flour pockets are just combined. Mixing too much will activate the gluten. Therefore, the cake will taste much heavier.
Recipe FAQs
This is normally due to the oven being hot. Gingerbread cakes dry out too quickly. You also may have added too much flour/spices.
To prevent your vegan cakes from falling apart you need an appropriate balance of fat, liquid and flour. If you don't add enough fat and liquid and you add too much flour, this is what causes a crumbly cake.
Store this vegan gingerbread cake at room temperature for 4 days in an airtight container.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
If you tried this Vegan Gingerbread Loaf 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!
Soft Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake
Ingredients
Gingerbread cake batter:
- 200 ml soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 190 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon ground ginger
- 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 0.5 teaspoon allspice
- 0.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 50 ml canola oil rapeseed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
Biscoff glaze:
- 160 g powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons soy milk
- 20 g Biscoff spread
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F).
- Grease two 20cm x 10cm loaf cake tins with cold vegan butter. Set aside.
Make the cake:
- Mix the vinegar into the soy milk to make the vegan buttermilk. Set aside for 7-8 minutes while it curdles. Measure out the other ingredients while you wait.
- To a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, allspice, ground nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine.
- Pour in your curdled soy milk, canola oil, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Don’t mix the cake batter. Instead, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet until all the flour pockets are gone.
- Equally, pour the gingerbread cake batter into the two cake tins and bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. A skewer will come out nice and clean when it’s ready.
- Allow your two cakes to cool in their tins for 15 minutes, then transfer them over to a cooling rack to cool fully.
Make the glaze:
- Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl. Then add the soy milk. Mix them together. This creates quite a thick glaze.
- Spoon your glaze over the cooled cakes.
Video
Notes
- If your ground spices such as, the ground ginger and ground cinnamon have been in the cupboard for a long time, the flavor may have weakened over the course of time. Check their use by date. The fresher the gingerbread spices, the more flavorsome the cakes will be.
- For a lighter, fluffier cake that isn't dense, just fold the cake batter until all of the flour pockets are just combined. Mixing too much will activate the gluten. Therefore, the cake will taste much heavier.
Catherine says
Made this at Christmas. Beautiful cake 👍