This Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake with Chocolate Chips is full of warm spices and is perfect for the holiday season. It's easy to make and is great to bring to a party. It has all the classic gingerbread flavor plus the addition of chocolate chips.
This recipe is a family favorite!
If you enjoyed my ginger molasses cookies, you'll love this recipe!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Warm spices: It has a nice fluffy texture and is full of gingerbread spices.
- Perfect for the holidays: This Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake is my family's favorite bread during the holiday season.
- Versatile: It makes a delicious dessert or afternoon snack.
Ingredient Notes
- All purpose flour - I prefer regular white flour in this. If you want to substitute whole wheat, sub out up to 50% of the total amount of flour. It will change the texture a bit.
- Non-dairy milk - I use unsweetened soy milk but oat or almond milk would also work well.
- Oil - Use a neutral oil such as vegetable or canola oil.
- Apple cider vinegar - You can substitute lemon juice or regular white vinegar if you don't have any apple cider vinegar.
- Molasses - For best flavor, use regular molasses instead of blackstrap molasses.
How To Make Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake
1. To begin, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare a 9" x 5" loaf pan by spraying it with nonstick spray.
3. Add the apple cider vinegar to the non-dairy milk in the measuring cup, stir and set aside. This will make a vegan buttermilk substitute.
4. Next, mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, ginger, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Set the dry ingredients aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, molasses, and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed.
5. Add the wet ingredients (the molasses mixture and the milk mixture) to the dry ingredients (flour mixture). Mix to combine but do not over mix.
6. Stir in all but a few of the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon. Immediately pour the gingerbread loaf cake batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
The batter isn't very thick so the chocolate chips can start sinking to the bottom of the pan. Adding a few chocolate chips on top makes sure that there are a few near the top of the bread.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 55 minutes. Loosely place a piece of aluminum foil on top of the loaf for the last 30 minutes to prevent over browning.
8. Remove from the oven and let the gingerbread loaf cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
9. Carefully remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely on a cooling rack for about 45-60 minutes.
The cooling part is very important. If you try to slice the loaf while it's hot it can fall apart.
Slice and enjoy.
Optional Glaze
I love this gingerbread loaf just the way the recipe it's written. Since it has plenty of chocolate chips in it, it doesn't need a glaze.
However, if you want to add a drizzled glaze, you can easily make one by mixing some powdered sugar with some vegan milk. Just add enough milk to get the right consistency and then drizzle it on top of the cake once it's cooled.
Storage Tips
Room Temperature
Once cooled, store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days.
Freezer
Wrap the loaf in wax or parchment paper before placing in a freezer bag. When you are ready, thaw the bread in the refrigerator overnight. You should be able to slice it by the next morning.
Reheat
After thawing, you can warm up individual slices in the oven.
Recipe FAQs
No, I don't like baking with flax eggs (made with flax seeds and water) as it makes baked goods too dense. This recipe does not need it.
Some people like to bring their non-dairy milk to room temperature first before adding vinegar. I haven't need to do that but if you're having trouble you can try that.
For best flavor, use regular molasses in this recipe.
While I haven't tried it, brown sugar or coconut sugar should work fine in this recipe.
Yes, you can use melted coconut oil. While coconut oil gives a coconut flavor, this bread has many different spices that should mostly cover it up.
Vegan Dessert 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 it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Recipe
Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake With Chocolate Chips
Equipment
- 9 x 5 loaf pan
- cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup oil
- ½ cup molasses
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup non-dairy chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare a 9 x 5 loaf pan by spraying with non-stick oil spray.
- Add the apple cider vinegar to the non-dairy milk, stir and set aside for about 5 minutes. This will make a buttermilk substitute.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, mix the oil, molasses, and vanilla extract.
- Add the molasses mixture and the milk mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix to combine but do not over mix.
- Stir in all but a few of the chocolate chips. Immediately pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 55 minutes. Put a piece of aluminum foil on top of the loaf for the last 30 minutes to prevent over browning.
- Remove the oven and cool the loaf in the pan for 15 minutes.
- Remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
- Slice and enjoy. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Use any unsweetened non-dairy milk. I use unsweetened soy.
- My favorite dairy-free chocolate chips to use are from Trader Joe's.
- For best taste, I prefer using regular molasses to blackstrap molasses.
- Make sure your bread is completely cooled before you cut it or it will crumble.
Jen says
We absolutely love this gingerbread loaf! Don't worry if the batter is a little thin - it'll bake up nice and fluffy.
Maureen says
I haven’t made this loaf yet but it sounds delicious. I just wondered if it could be frozen.
jencardenas says
Hi Maureen. I haven't frozen it before but it shouldn't be a problem. Most quick breads are fine to be frozen for up to 3 months. I'd wrap it in foil once cooled and put it in a ziploc bag. Thaw it overnight in the fridge. You can heat up individual slices or warm the whole bread in the oven. Hope that helps!