Chocolate Gingerbread Cake (Vegan)
Chocolate gingerbread - this delicious, rich, sticky, spicy cake is a wonderful marriage between chocolate cake and gingerbread.
Servings 16 people
Ingredients
- 150 ml (½ cup + 2 Tablespoons) neutral oil (I use olive)
- 100 g (packed ½ cup) dark brown soft sugar
- 180 g (9 Tablespoons) treacle
- 180 g (9 Tablespoons) golden syrup
- 250 ml (1 cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy) warm
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 280 g (2 ¼ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 40 g (4 packed Tablespoons) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 3 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 175 g (6 oz) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170℃/150℃ fan/325℉/gas mark 3 and grease a 23 cm/9 in square tin and line it with baking parchment.
- Whisk together the oil, sugar, treacle, golden syrup, warm milk and vinegar in a large bowl until well combined.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt and stir gently with a balloon whisk until no dry lumps remain.
- Add the chocolate chips and gently fold through.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread it level. Bake for 45-50 minutes until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
- Leave to cool completely in the tin then store in an airtight container.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale 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!
- Because this is such a rich, moist, sticky cake it will likely dip in the middle slightly, this is normal with this kind of cake and is not a fault with the recipe. You do need to be careful not to be heavy handed with the golden syrup and treacle however as adding too much can cause the cake to sink more than it should. Make sure to weigh them out accurately using a scale.