I didn’t fall in love with all things gingerbread until a few years ago when I made these INCREDIBLE ginger molasses cookies with a chewy, spicy middle and crispy sugar coated edges. After my first bite, I knew that I would be a gingerbread lover for life.
Not to mention those fabulous little gingersnap cookies from Trader Joe’s… have you had them? Dangerous is what they are.
Speaking of my love for gingerbread, today I’m resharing an easy gluten free gingerbread cake recipe that you can’t help but fall in love with! Not only is it made in one bowl, but it’s also gluten free and perfect for Christmas morning brunch or anytime you’re feeling a holiday snack or dessert.
This gingerbread cake recipe is SO MOIST (I know we hate that word) but it’s truly delightful and almost a cross between a cake and a bar. My husband, who really doesn’t even like gingerbread treats, LOVED this cake, and before I knew it had even eaten half of the pan. That’s how you know it’s REAL GOOD.
Ingredients in gluten free gingerbread cake
This easy gingerbread cake is made with simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry or fridge. Whoo hoo!
- Coconut oil: you’ll need melted coconut oil to give the cake moisture.
- Sweetener: we’re sweetening this gingerbread cake with pure maple syrup and blackstrap molasses for true gingerbread flavor.
- Egg: you’ll need 1 egg in this recipe to help the cake bake up properly.
- Milk: a little milk (I like to use unsweetened almond milk) adds extra moisture.
- Flour: to keep the cake gluten free we’re using a mix of fine blanched almond flour and oat flour.
- Spices: the wonderful mix of ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and a little salt are essential to the gingerbread flavor as well!
- Baking staples: you’ll also need baking powder (not baking soda) and vanilla extract. Learn how to make your own vanilla extract here!
- For the frosting: top this gorgeous gingerbread cake with a simple cream cheese frosting made from butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
Make this gluten free gingerbread cake your own
What I love about this easy gingerbread cake is that you can truly make it your own based on your preferences! Here are some options:
- Top with a cream cheese frosting. This is how I normally serve it. Sometimes I even add the zest of 1 lemon + 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the frosting for a lemon cream cheese frosting. You could also do an orange cream cheese frosting with the same amounts!
- Add chocolate chips. Skip the frosting and fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips of choice to the batter! You could do semi-sweet, dark chocolate, white chocolate or even dairy free chocolate chips. YUM.
- Serve with powdered sugar + berries. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar and berries to keep it dairy free.
Can I make it dairy free or vegan?
Feel free to use dairy free butter and dairy free cream cheese to keep the entire cake dairy free. Alternatively, you can use one of the dairy free toppings above!
I haven’t tested this cake using a flax egg in place of the regular egg, but I think it should work well!
How to make your own oat flour
Instead of buying oat flour, you can easily make your own gluten free oat flour by simply placing certified gluten free oats into a blender and blending/pulsing until they’re smooth and resemble flour. This is probably the cheapest option, too! Check out my tutorial with all of my best tips & tricks.
Personally, I LOVE using a mix of both oat flour and almond flour for a chewy, moist crumb in this cake.
Can I use all purpose flour?
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend using all purpose flour in this recipe as I don’t think the cake texture will turn out the same. You’ll need the gluten-free flour blend of almond flour and oat flour!
Tips for making the perfect healthy gingerbread cake
- Use room temp ingredients. Be sure that your egg is at room temperature and your coconut oil is cooled before you mix the wet ingredients together otherwise the cold eggs will coagulate with the hot coconut oil. Simply run your egg under warm water for a few minutes to bring it to room temp. This goes for the cream cheese and butter in the frosting, too, so that you can easily beat it together! Do not microwave the butter or cream cheese or it will ruin the frosting. Simply set out the ingredients before you begin baking your cake and by the time it’s done baking and cooling, they’ll be ready to go!
- Pack your almond flour. That’s right, you’ll want to pack the almond flour just like you would with brown sugar, No need to pack the oat flour.
- Cool the cake. Before adding that fluffy cream cheese frosting, be sure that your cake is completely cooled otherwise the frosting will melt on top.
How to store & freeze gluten free gingerbread cake
- To store: I recommend storing the cake covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: feel free to freeze this cake either frosted or unfrosted for up to 2 months. I recommend freezing it unfrosted in individual layers for best results. First, wrap each individual layer in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and then place the cakes in a zip-top freezer bag or airtight container. When you’re ready to serve it, simply thaw it in the refrigerator overnight and then let the cake come to room temperature before serving.
More gingerbread recipes you’ll love
- Incredible Gingerbread Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Orange Gingerbread Swirl Loaf
- Fluffy Gingerbread Pancakes
- Healthy Gingerbread Muffins
- Grain Free Gingerdoodle Cookies
I hope you love this easy gluten free gingerbread cake! If you make it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe letting me know how you liked it. I appreciate it! xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
One Bowl Gluten Free Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted and cool enough to touch (or sub melted butter)
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup blackstrap molasses
- 1 egg, at room temperature (very important)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice)
- Dry ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 cup packed fine blanched almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- For the frosting:
- ¼ cup butter or vegan butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese or vegan cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the following ingredients until smooth: coconut oil (making sure it’s melted but cooled enough to touch), pure maple syrup, molasses, egg, vanilla extract and almond milk.
- Next add the dry ingredients to the bowl: oat flour, almond flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Mix together until batter is smooth and well combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Allow cake to completely cool.
- For the frosting: add butter and cream cheese to the bowl of an electric mixer; beat on high until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Next add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until well combined. If you like a creamier frosting, feel free to add a tablespoon of milk and mix again.
- Frost cake with an offset spatula, then sprinkle with a little cinnamon to make pretty. Cut into 12 slices and serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on December 19th, 2019, and republished on December 7th, 2023.
Could this work as cupcakes? Would I need to modify in anyway?
Yes, this should work well!
Omg this was absolutely delicious! I made a fully vegan and GF version with a flax egg. Tasted great, but I needed 10 m longer to bake it. The vegan version took longer to set than the original recipe for some reason.
Noted on the baking time! I’m glad it was delicious 🙂
This cake is our favourite Christmas dessert!! I’m just wondering if I could use any other flour than oat flour?
So happy to hear that! I haven’t tested this without the oat flour, so I can’t recommend a sub here – sorry!
hi Monique would I be able to make this recipe using all purpose flour? thankyou
Hi! I wouldn’t recommend it – sorry! The texture will be much different.
Any idea as to approximately how many grams are in the packed almond flour? I don’t want to over or under pack. Thanks, Susan
Use 112 grams!
Absolutely delicious. I used butter instead of coconut oil and topped with orange cream cheese frosting. I took it to a party and it was devoured. Perfect texture and not overly sweet.
Perfect! Love this one for winter months 🙂
My brother loves your carrot cake and asked for it on his December birthday and it was delicious! My daughter was diagnosed with Celiac the Friday before Christmas, so when I was looking for a gluten free Gingerbread recipe, I looked to you first. Everyone enjoyed this after Christmas dinner!
So glad you found this one!
Have you made cupcakes with this recipe? I know the baking time would be less. Thank you!!
I haven’t tested it but it should work! Just keep an eye on them and use a toothpick to see when they’re done.
I replaced almond flour with dried almond pulp. I hope that works too!
Let me know how it turned out!
I made this and it was beyond delicious! I used vanilla coconut sugar instead of powder sugar, and dairy free cream cheese. Wow – too good!
Perfect! Glad you loved it!
Can I just use GF flour instead of the oat/almond mix? Thanks!
Hi! I haven’t tested this cake with a 1:1 GF flour so I’m not sure how the texture will come out. Let me know if you give it a try!
I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for a while and finally got molasses to make it. It was amazing! Such a hit, people asked take slices home. The sweetness of the cream cheese was perfect. Thanks!!
Amazing! So glad it was a hit!
I doubled the recipe and took this to a party and it was a big hit! Even people who aren’t “cake people” loved it. I didn’t have allspice, so I substituted it with a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Mine needed a bit more time in the oven but that was probably because I doubled the recipe and used a different size pan.
Amazing! Glad everyone loved it 🙂
So good and easy to make. Thank you!
I love that this recipe calls for blackstrap molasses because I have some and most recipes don’t. That said, the cake has a more mature flavor and my kiddo wasn’t a huge fan, so I might try it with regular molasses the next time. Also, my cake was kinda stodgy and crumbly and not quite as tall as yours. I’m almost sure it’s because I made my own oat flour and had to use a small food processor for some of it because my vitamix was wet. It wasn’t nearly as fine as I would have liked and I had to run the processor a long time which may have warmed the oats too much. I used the almond flour from Aldi which seems ok, but maybe that was a factor too.
It’s a simple recipe and the frosting is amazing and compliments the slightly bitter molasses really well. Love the ingredients and will probably give it another try some time. This batch will likely just be all mine. Haha
I love using blackstrap molasses, too! This cake is definitely not meant to be *too* sweet as the frosting really takes it to that next level. Let me know if you give it another try with more finely blended oat flour – that could’ve been the culprit for the texture!
Great flavor- I thought it tasted even better the second day!
Wondering if this recipe could be used for a layer cake? Maybe an 8 inch round pan for each batch?
Agreed! Lots of gluten free baked goods taste even better 1-2 days later because they get a fudgy texture 🙂 Glad you enjoyed! You can absolutely make this in an 8 or 9 inch round pan, but if you’d like multiple layers you’ll have to double the recipe to have enough batter.
would chickpea flour work in place of oat flour?
I haven’t tested it out so I can’t be 100% sure. Let me know if you try it!
I don’t consider myself a cook or baker but I’ve discovered that I enjoy it. I can follow instructions so I very much appreciate your details, as I learn. I have 3 family members with varying levels of gluten intolerance so my antennas go up when I see GF. I look forward to checking my inbox to see what’s next. Thanks for all the compassion with which you create. Always other first makes a good chef!
So happy you found this recipe and Ambitious Kitchen! Check out our full gluten free category here for even more inspo 🙂
These were not good. All you really taste is the molasses. Would not recommend.
Hi! Sorry to hear that this cake didn’t turn out for you. Did you follow the recipe exactly? With all of the other ingredients it shouldn’t have too strong of a molasses taste.
Obsessed! So good. I left the sugar out of the frosting and used a bit of maple syrup instead. Kids loved it too. So nutritious and delicious.
Perfect! Glad it was a hit with the kiddos 🙂
This recipe looks delicious! Is there anyway this recipe can be successfully made with an egg replacer?
Hi! I haven’t tested this recipe using a flax egg but I think it should work well. Let me know if you try it!
I think this is the tasty cake I’ve ever had! I didn’t even make the frosting, just dusted a little powdered sugar on top and it was incredible! And the house smelled heavenly while it baked! Tastes just like a (healthier) panelita, one of my favorite Colombian treats from my childhood!
Amazing! So glad you are loving this cake and it turned out amazing for you, Jennifer ❤️
SO GOOD! I’ve been craving all things gingerbread this winter and this came out perfect. I didn’t make the frosting and don’t feel like it needs it. I actually cut the recipe in half and baked it in a smaller dish and it worked out great.
Perfect! So glad you are enjoying this cake, perfect for the winter 🙂
This is so delicious! I subbed applesauce for the oil and it turned out great – super moist and perfectly sweet. I didn’t even add frosting and it was gone in an instant!
Yum sounds amazing! So glad this is a hit 🙂
This is delicious! No frosting necessary, though I’m sure it would be tasty. Flavor is amazing, texture is perfectly moist and light. Love it so much!
Glad you love this one! Agreed – the cake itself is so delicious (but I always like to have a little frosting!)
Lovely! Easy and very tasty. Moist and healthier with oat flour made in the blender!
No need to frost . Perfect sweetness. I added a touch of cardamon..just because.
Very yummy!
So glad you found this recipe and are loving it ❤️
This was a yummy little cake, perfect for snacking. I used regular milk. I didn’t have allspice, so I used about 1/4 tsp or more of ground clove. Mine took about half an hour to bake. I used Gramdma’ s brand original molasses. I guess black strap is different. It’s what I had on hand. Mine is lighter in color than the one pictured here- more like brown sugar color. It’s good! Thank you!
Absolutely! So glad you found this recipe 🙂
Hi! I am wondering if I can substitute GF flour or coconut flour. My husband is highly allergic to oats and my dad is allergic to almonds
Hi! So sorry to say I haven’t tested this without the almond flour. Let me know if you end up trying it with GF flour (I wouldn’t recommend coconut).
love anything with gingerbread spices…yummmm! this looks so good! was just wondering if I could make this sugar free?? I use no added sugar maple syrup or stevia for my baking usually. in regards to the molasses, is there a possible sugar free substitute I could use please?
Sorry, I haven’t tested this with any substitutes so I can’t recommend anything. Let me know if you try any 🙂
Could all maple syrup be substituted for the molasses?
I wouldn’t recommend it — the molasses is essential to the texture & flavor of this cake, sorry!
Hello. This looks lovely and I’m excited to try it. I’ve tried 4 other recipies for ginger cake and most of them were great on day one but the next day were dry 😩 Can you tell me, can I use ground almonds or is that the same as almond flour ? Thanks and fingers crossed my search for a moist cake ends here 🤞😊
Hi, Fiona! SO excited for you to try this one 🙂 Nope, you’ll need fine blanched almond flour (I love Bob’s Red Mill) which is really different from almond meal/ground almonds. It has a much finer texture and will create the best texture for the cake.
Thanks very much. I don’t think I can get Red Mill in the UK but I’ll find an alternative. Also you wouldn’t happen to have the weights in grams do you, I’ve never used cups, always weighed my ingredients 🤔
Sorry, I don’t measure in grams! You could try googling an online conversion calculator 🙂