Vegan and Gluten Free Gingerbread

There is nothing more warming than a slice of Gingerbread. I wanted to make one that was suitable for vegans and those who need a gluten free diet so I adapted my old faithful recipe and the results were not too shabby at all. Fresh out of the oven and still warm it was a moist melt-in-your-mouth cake.

If you don’t have vegan or gluten free dietary requirements, just swap back to SR flour and use 2 eggs instead of the aquafaba. Do choose margarine though and not butter.

YOU WILL NEED;

450g gluten free SR flour (Doves Organic)

3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground mixed spice

200g soft brown sugar

200g of vegan margarine

200g of golden syrup

100g of black treacle (add more or less according to strength of taste)

Aquafaba (the liquid from a tin of chick peas)

300ml plant based milk

FOR THE ICING;

200g icing sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

METHOD;

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C

Grease and flour a 2 lb loaf tin or equivalent

First melt your vegan margarine, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together on a low heat in a saucepan, and set aside to cool.

Next sift your flour into a separate bowl and combine with the spices. Mix well.

Then get your Aquafaba whisked. Aquaufaba can either be bought branded as ‘Oggs’ or, and this is my choice, you can use the starchy water from a 454g can of chick peas. That’s the equivalent to about 2 eggs. Put the chickpeas aside and make into hummus later to reduce waste.

Whisk the Aquafaba with a spoonful of sugar with an electric whisk until it forms soft peaks - like you would for a meringue. Set aside.

Now that your sugar and margarine blend is cooled combine with the flour and mix really well. Add the whisked aquafaba (as long as your mixture is properly cool) and mix in well.

Add your plant milk and mix again.

You should now have a nice batter mixture.

Pour into your prepare cake tin. Either a loaf tin, traybake or a bundt. Make sure to grease and flour the tin or use a liner.

Bake slowly in the centre of the oven for between 40 mins to 1 hour, keep checking with a skewer. Your gingerbread is ready when it comes out clean.

Once out of the oven remove from the tin and allow to cool.

FOR THE ICING;

Juice the lemon and mix with enough of the icing sugar to create a thick but malleable icing. It’s up to how you decorate but I like to make a lovely thick drizzle so that the gingerbread flavour stands out and is only enhanced by the lemon icing.

Best eaten the first day for the light and fluffy experience, but the next day the cake will take on a more traditional ‘gingerbread’ style texture if you like a firmer sponge.

Enjoy every bite.

Christine McKay28 June 2022