Vegan Gingerbread Loaf
Insanely fluffy and perfectly moist gingerbread that’s loaded with ginger and holiday spices, and uses robust molasses for that classic gingerbread flavor. The quintessential holiday breakfast bread or snack!
Everyone’s got their favorite gingerbread style. Some like it light, others like it dark. Some like it spicy, others prefer a milder version. My quintessential gingerbread? A bold-flavored bread that’s fluffy, moist, and loaded with lots of ginger and warming spices. Is there a better treat on a snowy December morning?
Why You’ll Love this Gingerbread Loaf
Classic gingerbread flavor. The combo of dark molasses with brown sugar and spices gives this loaf its bold and classic gingerbread flavor. Reminiscent of gingerbread men cookies!
Tender and moist. This gingerbread has a tender and perfectly moist texture. The secret? Applesauce! Not only does it add moisture without the need for extra oil/fat, it also acts as an egg replacer to give the gingerbread its fluffy texture.
Easy to make. Quick breads are called quick breads because they don’t require proofing like yeasted breads, and they only take about an hour from start to finish to whip up! Just mix everything up, bake, and you’ll be well on your way to impress your partner/friends/fam with your gingerbread loaf skillz.
Ingredient Overview
All-purpose flour. This gingerbread uses all-purpose flour to achieve that classic gingerbread flavor! I really, really wanted to create a whole grain gingerbread, but the flavor of the whole grain is too strong to conceal (although, admittedly, I only experimented with white whole wheat flour and didn’t test any other flours). Even by subbing in just ~32.5% of white whole wheat, the graininess cut through the gingerbread and made a significantly less delicious gingerbread.
Look, I’m all for incorporating more whole grains into baking (that’s why I developed my chocolate espresso scones using 100% whole wheat flour!), so if you wanted to add some into this loaf, you could sub up to 25% (60 grams/1/2 cup) of the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour. That amount shouldn’t severely impact the taste of the loaf (and it will have the same structure and fluffy texture), but note that your final loaf won’t be quite as gingerbread-y. If you’re going for the quintessential classic gingerbread loaf, stick with 100% AP flour.
Spices. This loaf uses ginger (duh, what’s gingerbread without ginger?!) along with warming cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and a healthy amount of cloves to achieve that classic gingerbread flavor!
Baking soda. For rise!
Molasses. There are three types of molasses, two of which have 3-4 different names to make buying the right kind unnecessarily confusing - 1) “light” or “golden”, 2) “dark” or “robust” or “full”, and 3) blackstrap. The difference between these three types is the number of times they’re boiled (from 1 to 3 times). Every boiling process reduces the sweetness while creating a bolder flavor, hence why the golden variety (boiled once) is the lightest tasting and sweetest, while blackstrap (boiled three times) is extremely bold and quite bitter.
To achieve a full classic gingerbread flavor, this loaf uses the goldilocks of molasses: dark/robust/full molasses. If you can’t find the dark variety, you can use the “light” variety in its place, but note that your gingerbread will have a lighter flavor that won’t be quite as...gingerbread-y.
Hot water and dairy-free milk. Hot water thins out the molasses to give it a mixable consistency, while the dairy-free milk supplements the rest of the liquid needed to create a loaf.
Light brown sugar. To sweeten the loaf! Since it contains molasses, light brown sugar is the perfect sweetener to complement the molasses in gingerbread, while also infusing additional moisture into the gingerbread.
Applesauce. For that fluffy/tender texture and more moisture! Since applesauce is naturally sweet, it also helps sweeten the loaf a bit.
Neutral oil. The source of fat in the loaf that adds lots of moisture!
Vanilla extract. For that warming vanilla flavor that’s absolutely necessary in just about any loaf or cake.
Tips for a Successful Gingerbread Loaf
Use a scale to weigh the flours. Baking is a very specific science, and any deviations in quantities can go terribly wrong (or right?!). For the perfect loaf, make sure you weigh out the exact quantities of flour (too little flour = mushy bread; too much flour = dense and dry bread).
Don’t have a food scale? Use the “spoon and level” method to avoid using too much flour. To do this, “fluff” the flour to aerate it. Then, spoon the flour into a measuring cup until it overflows slightly, and use the back of a knife to “level” the excess flour off the top. (PS - I highly recommend investing in a food scale - they’re cheap and invaluably useful for both baking and cooking!)
Do not overmix. I know it’s tempting to mix everything until you're 1000% sure that everything is incorporated, but RESIST the urge! Mix just until the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated in with the wet ingredients to form a batter.
Bake the batter ASAP after mixing. Once the dry ingredients touch the wet ingredients, baking soda begins reacting immediately to release carbon dioxide, which creates little pockets that help the loaf rise. This means you’ll want to work quickly to mix everything together and get that loaf into the oven to bake ASAP so you don’t lose any rising power!
Let the bread cool completely before slicing. After it’s done baking, you’ll want to let the loaf cool for a few hours (about 3 full hours) before digging in (an incredibly heinous task - I KNOW). Admittedly, I too have chipped away at little bits of warm gingerbread that have left me disappointed every time - the gingerbread flavor just doesn’t come fully while the bread is still warm! My advice? Bake it the night before so you can eat it for breakfast in the morning. 😋
Vegan Gingerbread Loaf
Ingredients
240 grams all-purpose flour (2 cups, spooned & leveled)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup “dark” or “robust” unsulphured molasses* (not blackstrap and not golden) - I used Grandma’s “Robust” molasses (not the “Original”)
1/3 cup very hot water
1/2 cup (very packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup dairy-free milk (I used oat milk)
1/3 cup neutral oil like avocado, sunflower, etc.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Line a standard 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper, letting the excess paper hang over the long sides.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice) and salt.
In a measuring cup or small bowl, mix together the molasses and hot water to create a thin, pourable mix.
To a large bowl, add the molasses/water mixture, brown sugar, applesauce, dairy-free milk, oil, and vanilla extract and use an electric hand mixer to beat together all the ingredients until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use the lowest setting on your hand mixer to gently fold all the ingredients together until just combined, being careful not to overmix. (Alternatively, you can also use a rubber spatula instead of an electric mixer to mix everything together.)
Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan and use the spatula to smooth out the top.
Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.
Let the baked bread cool for 10-15 minutes inside the loaf pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool fully (about 3 hours) before slicing.
Notes:
*See blog post above for discussion of the three molasses types. I use the “robust” or “dark” variety here, but you could substitute the lighter “golden” variety for a lighter gingerbread flavor. Do not use blackstrap molasses.
Hope this gingerbread is giving you all the winter feels! Don’t forget to drop a comment with your feedback below and tag me on Instagram (@teostinykitchen) when you show off your loaf!