Vegan Gingerbread Loaf with Chopped Pecans

Name: Vegan Gingerbread Loaf
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat flour; 1 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 cup date sugar; 2 tsp ginger; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp cloves; 1/2 tsp nutmeg; 1/3 cup unsulphured molasses; 1 1/4 cup warm water; 1/3 cup applesauce; 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 1 tsp vanilla; 1/4 cup chopped pecans

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Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are combined with molasses in this quick vegan gingerbread loaf. Moist, fluffy and subtly sweet this loaf makes for a delicious breakfast, a healthy snack, or a holiday dessert!

Gingerbread loaf topped with pecans and sliced.

I love a good gingerbread cookie but sometimes I don’t have the time to make the dough, roll it out, and bake several batches of cookies.

That’s when this delicious vegan gingerbread loaf recipe comes in handy. I get all the delicious gingerbread flavors in an easy quick bread.

This recipe was adapted from Cozy Peach Kitchen. I changed the ingredients to make this whole grain, oil-free, and reduce the sugar by using a low glycemic date sugar.

I also topped it with healthy pecan pieces for a little added crunch!

I enjoy this vegan gingerbread loaf with a dollop of vegan coconut whipped cream for dessert, but I also indulge in this quick bread as a grab-and-go breakfast in the morning.

The kids loved it too, and I was happy they were eating a whole grain slice of bread without too much added sugar.

You’ll enjoy making this simple gingerbread throughout the autumn and winter season. It makes for an excellent hostess gift.

Or bake into small loaves to give as gifts to your friends and neighbors. If you love baking simple quick bread, give these vegan muffins a try!

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Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Ingredients and Notes
Tools and Equipment You’ll Need
Instructions
Expert Tips
Is this gingerbread loaf healthy?
FAQS
How to Serve
How to Store
Check out these other holiday inspired desserts!
Recipe

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

Healthy whole food plant-based ingredients
Low in sugar
Moist and fluffy
Classic Gingerbread Flavor
Great recipe for the holiday season
No need for a flax egg or vegan butter
A delicious plant-based snack, breakfast, or dessert!

Ingredients and Notes

Ingredients for Vegan Gingerbread Loaf: baking soda, baking powder, apple cider vinegar, applesauce, molasses, flour, water, date sugar, vanilla extract, and spices.

Dry Ingredients: You will combine whole wheat flour with baking soda, baking powder, date sugar, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. You can also use coconut sugar or organic granulated sugar. If you don’t have whole wheat flour, you can use all-purpose flour, or oat flour for a gluten-free alternative.

Wet Ingredients: Combine blackstrap molasses, warm water, applesauce, vanilla extract, and apple cider vinegar together.

Topping (optional): Use chopped nuts of your choice. I recommend pecans or walnuts.

Scroll to the bottom of the post to the recipe card for complete measurements.

Tools and Equipment You’ll Need

Instructions

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine hot water and molasses in a medium-size bowl. Stir until combined. Add applesauce, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar.

Molasses water, and applesauce whisked together in a white bowl.

Step 2: Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and date sugar in a large bowl.

Flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices whisked together in a white bowl.

Step 3: Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring until just combines. Do not over stir.

Step 4: Line your loaf pan with parchment paper. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with chopped pecans on top.

Gingerbread patter in loaf pan lined with parchment paper.

Step 5: Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes before removing. Wait until completely cool to slice and serve.

Expert Tips

Combine molasses in warm water. Heat the water over the stove until it is warm but not boiling. Add the molasses and stir to combine. Remove it from the stove and add the applesauce, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Set aside.
Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. For an extra fluffy texture sift the flour.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients slowly. Stirring until just combined. Do not over mix. if you over stir the wet and dry ingredients you’ll break up the little bubbles that form that give this quick bread a light, fluffy, and moist crumb.
Use parchment paper to line your loaf pan. This eliminates the need to oil or butter your pan yet still remove the loaf from the pan with ease.
Sprinkle the pecans on top of the loaf before baking. They’ll stick to the top of the loaf, and make a pretty presentation.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Check at 40 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean the loaf is done. If not, bake for an additional five minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Is this gingerbread loaf healthy?

Whole Grains-Instead of using white flour this recipe uses whole wheat flour. Whole wheat flour is not processed the way white flour is so it retains its nutritional value helping you stay feeling fuller longer as well as increasing the fiber content.
Low Sugar-Because this recipe doesn’t call for white or brown sugar and instead uses date sugar the total amount of sugar in this recipe is reduced. Date sugar is also lower on the glycemic index than white or brown sugar.
Low Fat and Low Calorie-Subbing out oil for applesauce in this recipe takes virtually all of the fat out of this bread. One slice of bread is only 135 calories and has less than 1 g of fat.

FAQS

What is gingerbread made of?

Gingerbread is made by using a variety of spices. The most common spices are ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Sometimes anise and cardamom are added. The bread is then sweetened with molasses, but can also be sweetened with honey or brown sugar. In order to keep it vegan use maple syrup to replace honey when it is called for in a recipe. This vegan gingerbread loaf uses ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg with molasses and date sugar to give it a subtle sweetness.

What makes quick bread moist?

In order to get a moist quick bread, you have to stir the wet and dry ingredients until they’re just combined. Over stirring or mixing results in a dense quick bread. For a super moist quick bread use a wet sweetener such as molasses or maple syrup to keep it vegan. Another tip to moist quick bread is to put a baking sheet with water on the bottom rack of the oven while baking. The steam will create more moisture in the oven and result in moist bread.

How to Serve

Tea or Coffee-Enjoy this vegan gingerbread loaf alongside tea or coffee in the morning or as an after dinner treat. You couls also make it an extra special treat with hot chocolate!
Coconut Whipped Cream-Top with coconut whipped cream for a light and creamy addition.
Vegan Frosting-Slather on a bit of vegan frosting or icing sugar for a sweet finish.

How to Store

Room Temperature: This bread will last for up to 4 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not store in the refrigerator as it will dry out.

Freeze: You can freeze this vegan gingerbread loaf by wrapping it in plastic wrap and storing it in an airtight container in the freezer. It will last up to 2-3 months when frozen. When ready to defrost, remove it from the freezer and defrost in the refrigerator.

Check out these other holiday inspired desserts!

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