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Home » Cakes and Cupcakes

Chocolate Chunk Ginger Cake

Published: Nov 8, 2020 · Modified: Jun 7, 2022 by Baked · This post may contain affiliate links · 49 Comments

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A spicy, rich cake perfect for the holidays!  This vegan and gluten free chocolate chunk ginger cake features ground ginger, cinnamon, and molasses for great gingerbread flavour.

Small square of cake topped with an orange slice on a plate.

Once late November hits, we’re craving gingerbread and other spiced baked treats! Holiday dessert baking goes into full effect in our kitchens. This easy chocolate chunk ginger cake is the ideal holiday bake for this time of year.

Imagine a gingerbread cake spiced to perfection with cinnamon and ginger, and loaded with chocolate chunks. A simple and sweet vanilla bean glaze coats the top. Bonus – it’s vegan and gluten-free, too!

You may be seeing family and friends this year, or want a sweet treat to bake and leave on a doorstep as a food gift (our favourite!). If you’re not sure of someone’s dietary needs or preferences, this is a great option. It’s so good that no one will know it’s missing gluten, eggs, and dairy.

This ginger cake is:

  • Gooey, sweet, and indulgent
  • Easy to make
  • Loaded with chocolate pieces
  • Festive
  • Aromatic and full of flavor
  • Gluten-free and vegan-friendly (of course)!

Jump to:
  • Ingredients
  • Method
  • Tips and Notes
  • Substitutions
  • Recipe

Glazed cake on a cooling rack with a knife.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

Ingredients

Chocolate chunk ginger cake ingredients.

Method

Preheat the oven, then grease and line a loaf tin. Whisk the almond milk, ground flax, and apple cider vinegar. This creates a kind of buttermilk and flax egg combo.

Milk, flax, and vinegar whisked together.

In a large bowl, mix the gluten-free flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, and sea salt to combine.

Dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Make a well in the centre and add the milk mixture, and the other remaining ingredients, apart from the chocolate chunks. Mix to combine, then stir in the chocolate to incorporate.

Chocolate Chunks added to cake batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin, then bake for about 45 minutes, or until it passes a toothpick test. Cool the cake completely before adding the icing.

  • Cake batter in a parchment lined tin.
  • Baked cake on a cooling rack.

To make the icing, whisk the powdered sugar, orange juice, and vanilla until completely smooth. Pour over the cooled cake, cut into squares, and serve.

Glazed cake on a cooling rack.

Tips and Notes

Originally, a homemade blend of all purpose gluten-free flour was used in this recipe, which comes from Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in 5 by Zoë Francois and Jeff Hertzberg. A great book for any GF baker you know!

However, any all purpose gluten-free flour blend will work here. Just be sure your particular brand contains psyllium husk, xanthan gum or guar gum. We’ve had success with both Pamela’s Artisan Flour Blend and Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten-free Baking Flour.

About Vegan Chocolate

Chocolate is made from cacao beans. While cacao beans are naturally vegan friendly, most conventional chocolate is not, and includes dairy in some form. As such, look for a chocolate brand that has the “V” symbol on the package. 

It’s worth noting that a lot of of dark chocolate is unintentionally vegan friendly, however, check the ingredients to make sure. Many won’t be labeled as vegan but are in any case, especially the very dark chocolates (70% plus).

Some brands that carry vegan-friendly chocolate include Green & Blacks, Divine Treasures Chocolate, and Enjoy Life Brand (not sponsored).

Two small pieces of cake topped with orange slices.

Substitutions

Use any spices you like here. A spice mix will work well (like lebkuchen or gingerbread spice) in place of the cinnamon and ginger if you prefer. Nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves are all nice additions.

If you can’t get molasses, date syrup or dark honey are good substitutions. A darker maple syrup can be used too, which will result in a lighter tasting cake.

We use olive oil in this cake, but melted coconut oil can be used in its place if you prefer. The end texture of the cooled cake is slightly denser when using coconut oil. You can also use melted butter if dairy isn’t an issue.

There’s a good chance that an equal amount of white flour can be used instead of the GF blend, but we haven’t tried it. Since it’s a 1:1 mix it should hypothetically work the other way, too.

Glazed squares of cake on a cooling rack.

More Holiday Recipes

Maple Butter Tarts
Sour Cherry Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
Vegan Gingerbread Cookies 
Speculaas Spiced Baked Oatmeal with Pears
Stamped Brown Sugar Shortbread

Two small squares of ginger cake on plates.

If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.

Recipe

Small square of cake topped with an orange slice on a plate.

Chocolate Chunk Ginger Cake

4.8 from 5 votes
Author: Zoë François
Yield: 6
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 50 mins
Total Time 1 hr 10 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Comments

Description

 

A spicy, rich cake perfect for the holidays!  This vegan and gluten free chocolate chunk ginger cake features ground ginger, cinnamon, and molasses for great gingerbread flavour.

Equipment

  • Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
  • Loaf pan
  • Parchment paper
  • Whisk
  • Mixing bowl
  • Wire rack

Ingredients
 

  • ⅓ cup unsweetened almond, or soy milk
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
  • 1 ¼ cups gluten-free all purpose flour*
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • ⅓ cup fancy molasses
  • ¼ cup coconut sugar, or light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ cup dark chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

For the Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
  • Grease a loaf pan. Line the loaf pan with parchment paper and then lightly grease the parchment. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the almond milk, ground flax, and apple cider vinegar. The mixture should be foamy. Let stand for 5 minutes. 
  • In a larger bowl, sift the gluten-free all purpose flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, and sea salt.
  • Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.
  • Add the flax and milk mixture, coconut oil, applesauce, molasses, maple sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chunks. Combine just until the mixture comes together.
  • Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake is baked once it is deeply golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
  • Remove the cake from the loaf pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the glaze

  • Whisk the powdered sugar, orange juice, and vanilla together until completely smooth, adding more liquid if necessary.
  • Spoon and spread over the room temperature cake. Enjoy!

Notes

* That contains psyllium husk, xanthan gum, or guar gum.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 394kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 223mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 39g
Did you make this recipe?Let us know on Instagram @baked_theblog or tag #bakedtheblog!

This post was first published on November 19, 2014. The text has been most recently updated as of November 2020.

Squares of ginger cake with icing on cooling rack, with knife.
One of the original images from the post.
« Maple Butter Tarts
Chewy Vegan Ginger Cookies »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mary says

    November 25, 2014 at 9:27 am

    I woke up thinking – ah, a healthy chopped salad will be a great start today – then WAM – I read this recipe – and the dark chocolate bar I have hidden away is calling again : )
    thank you for a delicious recipe!

    Reply
  2. Melanie says

    November 25, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    This recipe looks and sounds delicious. My favourite holiday dessert is raspberry trifle, but gumdrop cookies, shortbread and Linzer cookies are pretty tasty as well. Enjoy the holiday season.

    Reply
  3. kristie {birch and wild} says

    November 25, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    I love everything about this cake, especially the gluten free-ness! Thank you for including us non gluten eating folks :) And thank you for taking such beautiful photos. They are seriously motivate me to become a better photographer.

    Reply
  4. MelissaW says

    November 26, 2014 at 1:47 am

    I love Lush Pie. It’s pudding and whip cream and other equally bad stuff!

    Reply
  5. Michaela says

    February 22, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    Very unique recipe! Does this bread freeze well, and warm back up without falling apart? The consistency is different due to being gluten-free, although in your pictures it looks like a dense cake where it wouldn’t fall apart! The glaze poured on top of the bread looks like it gives the cake a sweet flair. Thanks for sharing! Yum!

    Reply
  6. Katriona says

    December 16, 2015 at 3:49 pm

    This is such a great recipe. Many gluten free recipes have a lot more steps than regular recipes but this is quick, easy and super tasty. My gingerbread was cooked in 40 mins. Highly recommend.

    Reply
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Trackbacks

  1. salty maple squash w/ ginger scallion rice + turmeric brussels slaw | blog3 says:
    December 10, 2014 at 4:26 am

    […] other bits: I have a gluten-free and vegan chocolate chunk ginger cake on BAKED this week and a Thanksgiving-appropriate recipe for pot pie in The Washington Post too (hey […]

    Reply
  2. Love Chocolate Desserts Then Try This Chocolate Chunk Ginger Cake Recipe That Is Vegan + Gluten-Free.. - Afternoon Baking With Grandma says:
    June 12, 2015 at 4:23 am

    […] photo source  […]

    Reply

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