Vegan Gingerbread Cake

Get your festive pants on because Vegan Gingerbread Cake is happening! We're talking a gorgeous, heavily spiced, deeply dark, slightly sticky and delicious cake with inappropriately huge rivers of orange frosting drizzle.

It's every bit as good as my vegan carrot cake and is 100% as warming, fragrant and festive as a good vegan gingerbread cake should be. The sweet, subtle citrus hit from the glaze is such an amazing contrast to the spicy warmth of the gingerbread and works so well. Serve it as it is or try drizzling it in vegan custard for a really decadent dessert!

Reasons this eggless gingerbread cake is everything:

• It's rich and dark
• It's buttery and slightly dense (but not too dense)
• It's sweet but not overly sweet
• It is jam packed with festive spicy flavour and fragrance
• It's really easy to make and pretty impressive all at the same time!
• The combo of the rich, spicy gingerbread and the orange glaze is incredible!
• It's perfectly moist and slightly sticky

Here's the rundown on what's going on in this vegan bundt cake recipe and why:

• All-purpose flour – It's sturdy and works really well, giving the perfect dense but not too dense texture. I don’t recommend switching it for any other flour.
• Baking powder – Adds lift and airy fluffiness
• Baking Soda – The combination of baking soda and molasses creates a chemical reaction and makes bubbles and fizz. It is used as a replacement for the leavening usually provided by eggs and helps the cake rise well and become fluffier.
• Vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper & salt – Flavour, flavour, flavour! This is a very richly flavoured and festive cake. The black pepper might seem odd but it adds a lovely spicy, subtle heat. Don't skip it!
• Dark Brown Sugar – The kind that's dark and slightly sticky/clumpy in the bag. Important for moisture, depth of flavour and colour.
• Molasses - Absolutely essential in gingerbread. Go for dark molasses, usually labelled "unsulphured", sometimes labelled "robust". Blackstrap molasses is ok too. Do not reduce the amount. It is a lot but it is necessary for flavour, structure and moistness. I used Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses.
• Vegan Butter- Adds flavour and moisture. I highly recommend you don't use anything else instead. Oil gives nowhere near as good a result. However,  if you need to make the cake oil-free, natural, no additive almond or cashew butter will provide an ok, but slightly heavier result.
• Apple Sauce - We are packing the moisture into this cake. Good gingerbread cake should be moist and slightly sticky. This helps keep it that way for days and days after it's baked.
• Hot Water - Important for moisture and for dissolving the thick molasses

I made this cake in a bundt pan, but include tips for making it in other pans in the recipe notes.

My favourite cake pans are USA Pan and I use a USA Pan Bundt Pan. They really are good, they are reasonably priced, great quality, and most importantly the never stick. Their bundt pan is heavy duty, radiates heat perfectly so cooks very evenly, never warps and it has handy little handles to make holding and turning out easier. 

• Follow the recipe closely and as always with recipes involving flour, I highly recommend that you use a kitchen scale. Cup measurements are not accurate enough to get the best and consistent results. Digital kitchen scales are available at most big superstores now and you can pick one up for around $10. They are a great investment and are so worth having! If you do need to use cups, spoon the flour into the cup then level off the top with a knife without compacting it or shaking it down. By doing it like this you will get roughly the correct amount and make your chances of success better. Do not scoop the flour up into the cup as you will end up with much more than intended and it will affect the outcome of the recipe.
• Do not over mix the batter. As with all cakes, the more you mix, the more you activate the gluten in the flour which really affects the texture and rise of the finished cake.
• Alternate the wet and dry ingredients when mixing the batter. See below for why this important.
• Grease your pan very well.
• Rub your measuring cup/jug with a little oil prior to measuring the molasses. It will make the whole situation less sticky and it will pour out like a dream leaving no remnants.
• Don't overcook the cake. Once time is nearly up, check frequently. It's better to very slightly undercook it than overcook it. A toothpick inserted should have some sticky crumbs on it, but not obviously wet batter.
• Allow the cake to cool completely in its pan. Don't remove it until it is completely cool. Usually with cakes we remove them more or less right away, so they don't get damp from the steam emerging inside the pan. With this cake though, we actually want it to be a sticky because it works so well with gingerbread. Steam is your friend.
• As long as you take note of the previous success tip, this one won't be relevant at all but I thought it worth mentioning in case someone does rush things and removes the cake from the pan too soon.  Don't frost the cake until it has cooled completely.
• When you make the frosting, follow my directions for adding the orange juice carefully. There is no exact amount. It varies a little every-time. It's important to keep the frosting as thick as it can possibly be, whilst still being drizzle-able.
• Make up a bit of extra frosting using powdered sugar and water, and practice pouring the glaze onto your upturned bundt pan. That way you can perfect your technique before you let yourself loose on the real cake. See my tips for the best way to glaze the cake below.
• Larger cake recipes bake times tend to vary from oven to oven. Different cake pans bake differently too. Your bake time may be longer or shorter than mine. Use my time as a guide and check regularly. It's important not to over-bake this one.

Although I don't recommend changing a lot, because baking is a science and the smallest thing can affect the outcome of the cake, there are some minor things that you can tweak:

• Add some chopped stem or candied ginger to the cake batter
• Add a handful or 2 of chocolate chips to the batter
• Use water or plant-based milk to make the glaze instead of orange juice if you'd rather not have a citrus flavour going on there.
• Use lemon instead of orange juice in the frosting.
• Omit the frosting completely and simply sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar.
• Frost it with vegan cream cheese frosting
• Cook in a loaf pan to make a Vegan Gingerbread Loaf (instructions included in the recipe notes)
• Cook in a regular cake pan (instructions included in the recipe notes)
• Omit the glaze and serve the cake with vegan custard.