Steamed gingerbread pudding - this easy vegan steamed ginger sponge pudding is the ultimate cold weather dessert.
It is hearty and warming with a firey ginger kick, great served with custard or ice cream!
Steamed puddings may not be very fashionable any more but they really do still deserve a spot on your Sunday dinner table.
They are very easy to make, there is no need to worry about over-cooking them, and they are just the kind of delicious, stick-to-your-ribs sort of comforting dessert that is needed during cold weather and short days.
This ginger version is warming and spicy with a sticky ginger syrup topping. It is phenomenal served with custard or ice cream, and it would even make a great alternative to a traditional Christmas pudding.
Ingredient Details:
Plain flour: Plain (all-purpose) flour is best. I haven't tested this gluten-free.
Butter: For the best results you need to use a vegan block butter/margarine, NOT the spreadable kind in a tub which has too high a water content for baking. I use Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Butter.
In this recipe the butter is rubbed into the flour before adding the wet ingredients so it is best if it is cold.
Brown sugar: Either light or dark brown soft or muscovado sugar will work. I wouldn't swap this for white sugar.
Black treacle: Treacle gives this pudding loads of flavour, you can use molasses instead.
Milk: Any kind of unsweetened non-dairy milk will work (except tinned coconut), but I like soy best as it has the highest protein content and a neutral flavour.
Baking powder: Do not swap this for baking soda, they are not the same.
Spices: It wouldn't be gingerbread without spice! I use ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice. The mixed spice can be swapped for any other sweet spice blend such as apple pie or pumpkin spice.
Crystallised ginger: I top the pudding with chopped crystallised (candied) ginger. Stem ginger will also work.
Golden syrup: This just goes in the bottom of the pudding basin along with the ginger to create a sticky, syrupy topping. If you are using stem ginger, you can swap half of the golden syrup for syrup from the ginger jar.
If you can't get hold of golden syrup then maple syrup or light molasses will also work.
How To Make Steamed Gingerbread Pudding:
(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)
Step 1: Grease a 1.2 -1.5 litre pudding basin well. Scatter the chopped ginger in the base and drizzle over the golden syrup.
Step 2: Mix together the flour, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and no lumps of butter remain.
Step 3: Stir in the sugar then add the treacle and milk and stir until well combined.
Step 4: Pour the batter into the prepared pudding basin and spread it level.
Step 5: Cut a large square of baking parchment and another of tin foil. Make a pleat in the centre of each square. The pleat gives the pudding room to rise. (If you have a pudding basin with a lid you can skip this step.)
Step 6: Place the baking parchment on top of the pudding basin with the pleat in the middle, followed by the tin foil. Press the foil over the edge of the pudding basin.
Tie a length of string very tightly around the foil – there should be a lip on the pudding basin; tie the string just under that. Tie a length of string across the top of the basin to make a handle. Trim off the excess foil and parchment, leaving at least a centimeter below the string.
Step 7: Place a saucer upside down in a large saucepan to act as a trivet and place the pudding basin on top. Pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the pudding basin, don't let it touch the foil.
Place the lid on the pan and place over a low heat. Cook at a gentle simmer for two hours.
Top Tips:
USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
Make sure that you really grease the pudding basin well to prevent it from sticking.
If you don’t have a pudding basin with a lid you will need to make your own using baking parchment, tin foil and string. Take your time doing it to make sure that it is very tightly tied, and when steaming the pudding DO NOT let the water level come up as far as the baking parchment/tin foil.
If you want a smaller pudding, a half batch of the recipe works well in an approx 850 ml pudding basin and takes 1 ½ hours to steam.
FAQ's:
This steamed gingerbread pudding really is best eaten freshly cooked so I don't recommend making it in advance unless you absolutely have to. If you really must, cook it up to 24 hours in advance and place it in the fridge, then re-steam it or re-heat it in the microwave to serve.
Any leftovers can be wrapped and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheated in the microwave to serve.
Any leftover steamed gingerbread pudding can be frozen in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Allow to defrost in the fridge then reheat in the microwave to serve.
More Comforting Vegan Puddings:
- Steamed chocolate pudding
- Sticky toffee pudding
- Coconut rice pudding
- Berry and coconut steamed puddings
- Self-saucing chocolate pudding
- Spotted dick
- Eve's pudding
- Steamed maple syrup pudding
- Rhubarb apple crumble
- Jam roly-poly
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Steamed Gingerbread Pudding (Vegan)
Ingredients
For the pudding basin:
- 60 g (2 oz) crystallised (candied) ginger or stem ginger roughly chopped
- 80 g (4 Tablespoons) golden syrup
Batter:
- 250 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice (or pumpkin/apple pie spice)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 120 g (½ cup) vegan block butter cold and diced
- 100 g (packed ½ cup) light brown soft sugar
- 120 ml (½ cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
- 80 g (4 Tablespoons) black treacle or molasses
Instructions
- Cut a large square of baking parchment and another of tin foil. Make a pleat in the centre of each square. The pleat gives the pudding room to rise. (If you have a pudding basin with a lid you can skip this step.)
- Place an upturned saucer in the bottom of a large saucepan with a lid and put the kettle on.
- Grease a 1.2 -1.5 litre pudding basin well. Scatter the chopped ginger in the base and drizzle over the golden syrup.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and no lumps of butter remain.
- Stir in the sugar then add the treacle and milk and stir until well combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pudding basin and spread it level.
- Place the baking parchment on top of the pudding basin with the pleat in the middle, followed by the tin foil. Press the foil over the edge of the pudding basin.
- Tie a length of string very tightly several times around the foil – there should be a lip on the pudding basin; tie the string just under that.
- Tie a length of string across the top of the basin to make a handle. Trim off the excess foil and parchment, leaving at least a centimetre below the string. If your pudding basin has it’s own lid, skip the above and simply put the lid on, making sure it is tight.
- Place the pudding basin on top of the saucer in the pan. Pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the pudding basin. Do not let the water touch the foil/baking parchment otherwise you may end up with a soggy pudding.
- Put the lid on the pan and place over a low heat. Cook at a gentle simmer for 2 hours, it will do the pudding no harm to let it cook for a while longer however. Check halfway through to see if the water needs topping up but resist the urge to take the lid off the pan too often.
- When it is cooked, the pudding should be springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
- Remove the tin foil and parchment. Run a knife around the edge of the pudding to loosen it then place a serving platter on top and flip it over. The pudding should drop out of the basin (you might need to give it a bit of a shake).
- Serve straight away with custard or ice cream.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
- USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
- If you can't get hold of golden syrup then you can use maple syrup or light molasses instead. You can also swap half of the syrup for syrup from a jar of stem ginger.
Karen
Looks delicious... Could you use a slow cooker..? If so what would be the timings..?
Hannah
Hi Karen, Yes a slow cooker would work. I'm not sure exactly on timings without having tried it myself, I would estimate 4-5 hours on high.