This Healthy Vegan Gingerbread Cake is moist, fluffy, soft and flavorful. It is only sweetened with banana and molasses, gluten free, dairy free, egg free and Paleo friendly. This is the best banana gingerbread cake recipe - healthy enough for breakfast, but tasty enough for dessert.
Most nights, dessert after dinner is a must for me. You too?
Dark chocolate is usually my go-to, but sometimes I want something a little extra. And that's exactly how this gluten free gingerbread cake came to fruition. All the blame goes to my evening sweet tooth 😉
For some reason (I think because the holidays are upon us) a moist gingerbread cake sounded good and I just happened to have a whole pile of bananas staring at me from across the kitchen.
Thus, this healthier Vegan gingerbread cake recipe was born!
Surprisingly enough, this cake was a complete success on the first try and eaten within record time. But not to worry, I tested it again for quality assurance 😉
Not only is this a great dessert, but this recipe is also the perfect gingerbread breakfast cake. It is only sweetened with bananas and molasses and made with healthy, wholesome ingredients - perfect for fueling your day.
Healthy Vegan Gingerbread Cake
What do I love about this gluten free Vegan gingerbread cake?
- It's super moist, fluffy and full of flavor
- This light gingerbread cake is only sweetened with bananas and molasses and is oil free
- My recipe is Vegan AND Paleo
- It's a great gingerbread snack cake or breakfast cake
- This recipe is EASY to make
This Vegan banana ginger cake also has a sugar free icing - which is completely optional. I actually prefer the cake without icing, but icing looks prettier.
There's really no downside to this moist, healthy and low sugar ginger cake. In fact, I think Santa may be requesting cake over cookies this year 😉
Ingredients in Healthy Vegan Gingerbread Cake
This is a fluffy, moist gingerbread cake made from a mixture of cassava flour and almond flour, and topped with an optional sugar-free vanilla icing. All of the ingredients are Vegan and Paleo friendly.
Here's what you need:
For the Cake
- ripe bananas
- water
- molasses
- vanilla extract
- cassava flour
- almond flour
- baking powder
- cinnamon
- ground ginger
- nutmeg
- ground clove
- salt
For the Frosting (optional)
- coconut cream
- powdered monk fruit
- vanilla extract
- ground ginger
No substitutions have been tested for this simple banana gingerbread cake. However, if you make substitutions I would love to know how it turns out - let me know in the comments.
How to Make Vegan Gingerbread Cake
This gingerbread cake with banana is made in two bowls, with a whisk and a spatula and baked in an 8" x 8" glass baking pan.
Here are the step by step instructions:
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Make the Cake Batter
Next, peel the banana and mash it in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, molasses and vanilla and whisk until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining cake ingredients. This includes the cassava flour, almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Whisk until well combined.
Pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix with a spatula. The batter is thick!
Grab an 8" x 8" glass baking dish and line it with parchment paper. Pour the cake batter into the lined pan and use a spatula to push the batter to the sides of the pan and smooth out the top.
Bake the Cake
Next, place the pan in the preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
After baking, remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan to room temperature.
Make the Icing
Once the cake is fully cooled, make the icing.
For the icing, combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth. Then, frost the cake.
Add a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, cut and serve.
How to Store Healthy Gingerbread Cake
This cake is best stored in the fridge. Because it is moist and preservative free, it will not last long at room temperature.
I recommend keeping this cake in an air-tight container in the fridge up to one week.
More Easy Gingerbread Recipes
For more easy Paleo gingerbread recipes, check out these reader favorites:
- Chocolate Gingerbread Truffles
- Gingerbread Waffles
- Healthy Gingersnap Cookies
- Gingerbread Protein Muffins
Enjoy!
Healthy Vegan Gingerbread Cake (Gluten Free, Paleo)
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8" x 8" pan 1x
Description
This healthy Vegan Gingerbread Cake is made from a mixture of almond flour and cassava flour and only sweetened with molasses and banana. It is a moist, fluffy and flavorful Paleo gingerbread cake.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 250g banana (about 1 cup mashed)*
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 116g cassava flour (1 cup sifted, spooned & leveled)
- 85g blanched almond flour (1 cup sifted, spooned & leveled)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground clove
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
For the Icing (optional)
- ½ cup coconut cream**
- 3 Tbsp powdered monk fruit sweetener
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-
Peel banana and mash it in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, molasses and vanilla and whisk until well combined.
-
In a separate bowl combine the remaining cake ingredients. This includes the cassava flour, almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Whisk until well combined.
-
Pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix with a spatula. The batter is thick!
-
Line an 8" x 8" glass baking dish with parchment paper. Pour the cake batter into the lined pan and use a spatula to push the batter to the sides of the pan and smooth out the top.
-
Place the cake in your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
-
After baking, remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan to room temperature.
For the Icing
-
Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth.
-
Frost the cooled cake*** Add a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, cut and serve.
Notes
*I used yellow bananas with a few brown speckles
**Use just the cream from a can of full fat coconut milk or coconut cream
***Don't frost the cake until it has completely cooled. For best results, place cake in fridge for an hour after cooling in the pan, then frost.
Katie
I love this gingerbread cake and hope you all do too!
Christine Boehm
Can I make this into muffins ?
Katie
I haven't tried, but I bet they would work well as muffins!
Liz
If I’m not vegan, could I replace part of the water with an egg?
Katie
This recipe doesn't have a vegan egg, so there's no swap to make using a normal egg. I supposed you could try adding an egg and eliminating some water.
Rebekah
Can I ask the purpose of the parchment paper? Is it so the cake can be removed from the pan, or to keep the bottom from burning? Newbie here and hoping to make for my son. Thank you!
Katie
Hi! The parchment is to keep the cake from sticking to the pan and making it easy to remove. Greasing the pan would work too, but parchment is easier and ensures the cake won't stick 🙂
Rebekah
Katie, thank you for the parchment paper explanation! We just ate this lovely cake for my son’s birthday and it was a hit with him (and he’s five!). The spices were great, the texture was good, and even though I used the whole can of coconut cream (and sweetened with pure date sugar rather than monk fruit) and so my frosting was probably more liquidy than was ideal, I wouldn’t change anything about the recipe! Thank you! 10/10 will make again.
Katie
Oh I'm so happy to hear this! Happy birthday to your son 🙂 And thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
Nic
This was super good! Mine was not fluffy, but it was very good.
Katie
I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you for leaving a comment 🙂
Liz
Hi- would I be able to sub something for the cassava flour?
Katie
It's possible that all purpose flour or a gluten free blend may work, but this recipe has only been tested with cassava flour. If you make the swap, be sure to measure at a 1:1 ratio by weight.
Nicky
I love this cake! My daughter has a winter birthday and it's perfect for that.
We love this cake as is, but have a friend who cannot do almonds. Is there a way to replace the almond flour with something else? I would love to serve this to my friend.
Katie
Hi! So glad you love this cake 🙂 The best substitutes would be tigernut flour or ground sunflower seeds (which may turn the cake slightly green after cooling).
Ellie
Hi, do you think tigernut flour can work instead of almond flour?
Katie
Hi! Yes, I think tigernut flour would work in place of the almond flour. I'd substitute it by weight (in grams).
Gina
Hi Katie.
I was wondering if I measure out the almond and cassava flours before sifting or do I sift the flours first then measure them out? Thank you for your time, help and for all your delicious recipes.
Katie
If you have a scale for weighing your flours, then you don't need to sift them. If you're measuring by volume, then sift each flour first, spoon it into your measuring cup and finally level it off with a butter knife (or any flat object). The "sifted, spooned and leveled" is mentioned to provide accurate measurements of each flour 😉
Diane
Hi Katie!
I don’t eat bananas. Can I substitute with apple sauce?
Katie
That should work!
JOY
HI,
JUST FOUND THIS RECIPE AND EXCITED TO TRY IT.
QUESTION: SO MANY RECIPES CALL FOR RIPE BANANA.....CAN I USE AN ALREADY RIPENED, FROZEN BANANA INSTEAD?
Katie
You might be able to defrost the banana and then use it. I've never tried though.
Jean
I see other people had success with this recipe but I had to check back on the ingredients to see if I missed something - my batter wasn't just thick, it was more like cookie dough and the bake came out almost as flat as it went in! I did have to use unsweetened applesauce to make up for not having a full cup of banana - but surely that shouldn't have made such a difference?
Katie
Hi, did you measure the ingredients by weight (when given)? That could have made enough of a difference in the batter.