Amazing Fluffy Gingerbread Gluten-Free

Amazing Fluffy Gingerbread Cake

This is a perfect cake for the holiday season,
since a warm spicy comfort food snack is most
appreciated on chilly winter days, even here
in South Florida. This is the sweetest taste of
all my cake recipes.

This cake is Gluten-Free, dairy-free, and even
vegan if you use the egg-free option, and can
even be molasses-free as well if you use one
of the substitutes below.

No one would expect “Fluffy” to describe a
gluten-free Cake so I was so thrilled with the
results of this recipe, a delicious warm spicy
gingerbread cake. The texture of this cake is so
light and amazing that I call it “cake,” because it’s
more like sweet cake than traditional gingerbread.

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 2 tbs. oil (olive or coconut) 
1/4 cup sugar (white, raw, or coconut)

1 large egg (or egg substitute).
1 cup unsulphured molasses (or honey,
date honey, or dark brown sugar)
(1 cup hot water)

Directions:
Whisk:
1¼ cups almond (or oat) flour
¾ cup tapioca
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
(or ground flaxseed)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Optional:
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Gradually stir in:
1 cup hot water last step

            Optional Add-ins :
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ tsp. extra ginger
½ tsp. lemon or orange zest
¼ cup raisins or cran-raisins
¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease and flour an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan,
or line it with parchment, sprayed with oil. 

In a large bowl with an electric mixer,
Beat oil and sugar until light and fluffy,about
3 minutes. (I used an immersion blender).

Mix in egg, then molasses, and beat again
until smooth. Hold back the hot water for last.

In another large bowl sift dry ingredients: flour,
baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.

Whisk into that the molasses mixture, mixing
after each addition, until fully incorporated.

Then gradually mix in the water until smooth.

The batter will be a thin liquid consistency. You
will wonder, “How will this thin batter become a
cake?” Trust me, it will! It’s really amazing!

Pour the gingerbread cake batter into the
prepared pan. You can sprinkle it evenly with
1/4 cup of dried fruit or raisins or chopped nuts
or even nothing extra.

How to Bake Your Gingerbread Cake:

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

Then insert a toothpick in the center of the cake;
A toothpick should come out with a few crumbs
stuck to it, but not gooey batter.

If the surface feels firm to the touch, not wet
or gigley anywhere, remove cake from the oven.
If not, bake up to 25 more minutes, checking every
5 to 8 minutes for doneness.

How to To store Your Gingerbread Cake:
The surface is a bit sticky, so I cover the cake with
parchment or waxed paper, then put it into an
airtight container in the fridge to store it. You can
Store it up to 7 days, or for longer storage, freeze
it in an airtight container up to a month.

Allow the gingerbread cake to cool in the pan
before serving. That amount of time will finish
the internal cooking.

Serve topped with whipped cream, ice cream,
powdered sugar, or nothing at all.

MOLASSES CAN BE SUBSTITUTED WITH:
honey, light or dark corn syrup, *dark brown
sugar, or date honey. Those will alter the flavor
but not too seriously. (Granulated sugar may
not fully dissolve).

*If you need to make dark brown sugar (if
called for in any recipe), simply add two
tablespoons of molasses to 1 cup
(minus-2 tbs.) of white sugar.

Molasses-Free Substitutes:

I’ve found that *dark brown sugar can replace molasses
in a recipe (cup for cup).  Dark corn syrup also works.
Also Black Strap molasses might be tried. (Black Strap
is less sweet than unsulphured molasses). I haven’t tried
it yet. I’ve read that Black Strap can throw off the taste
you’re accustomed to in molasses based recipes, yet I
believe it would work well here, if you prefer the cake to
be less sweet. 

Due to cost, or flavor, or availability of molasses, you
may want to partially substitute molasses and still
get the molasses flavor.

This cake is the sweetest of my cake recipes, since
I’ve toned down my sweet-tooth, so I lowered the
sugar and added more spice.
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Click here for
“Naturally Sweetened Frosting:
(Nothing artificial, NO Refined Sugar)

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