Vegan Gingerbread Cake

Stack of several gingerbread cake squares on a white plate dusted with powdered sugar.

4.73 from 11 votes

There is nothing more holiday than the flavors of gingerbread! Warm spices and sweet molasses come together in this soft, moist cake. It tastes and smells like heaven! With a dusting of powdered sugar, this Vegan Gingerbread Cake Recipe is Christmas perfection!

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Total Time45

Course: Desserts & Sweet Treats

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Servings: servings

Calories: 145kcal

Author: Jenn Sebestyen

Equipment

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup molasses dark or robust for best flavor, light molasses may be used in a pinch, but not blackstrap!
⅓ cup organic cane sugar
⅓ cup grapeseed oil or canola oil or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
¾ cup hot water
organic powdered sugar optional, for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper, letting the ends overhang, and set aside.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and salt together in a mixing bowl and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the molasses, sugar, oil, vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and hot water until smooth.
Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. It's ok if there are a few lumps, but don't leave any white flour showing. Do not over mix or the cake may come out dense and rubbery.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 10 to 15 minutes. Using the ends of the parchment paper that are overhanging the sides, pull the cake out of the pan and place on the cooling rack to continue cooling.
Once cool, dust with powdered sugar and cut into squares.

Notes

~ First and foremost, make sure your spices are fresh! Old spices lose their potency and won't bring as much flavor.

~ I did trial this recipe with oat flour and a gluten-free flour blend and I do not recommend it. The flavor was good, but the texture wasn't great. It was denser and didn't rise as well. For this reason, I do not recommend substituting the all-purpose flour for another kind of flour.

~ Measure your flour using the spoon and level method. Spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level off with the back of a knife.

~ Whisk the dry ingredients well so they will be evenly distributed throughout the cake.

~ Do not substitute for the molasses! It has a unique sweet, robust flavor that makes gingerbread what it is. Use dark molasses, sometimes called robust molasses, for the best gingerbread flavor. Light molasses may be used in a pinch, but won't bring as much flavor. Do not use blackstrap molasses as that will be too strong and not sweet enough.

~ Use hot water when mixing the liquid ingredients. It will help thin the cake batter, keep the cake super moist, and make it light and fluffy.

~ Whisk the dry ingredients with the wet only until just combined. Do not over mix! Over mixing will cause the gluten in the flour to activate and will result in chewy, rubbery cake.

~ Get the cake in the oven immediately after whisking the batter.

~ Let the cake cool before dusting with powdered sugar.

~ Nutrition facts calculated without optional powdered sugar.

Nutrition