Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

As a little prelude to holiday cooking, I made this recipe from my book, The Fiber for life Cookbook last week.  Not only is it moist and dark and rich with spices and molasses, but it also happens to be whole grain, fiber-rich and low in fat.  I had a bit of my vegan caramel sauce leftover from another recipe, so I decided to "doll up" my homespun gingerbread with a drizzle of that and some toasted hazelnuts.  Perfect!

I called this recipe "Gingerbread" in the book because that's what we always called this type of dark, spicy, moist ginger cake baked in a square pan when I was growing up. But, it occurred to me that "gingerbread" is a cookie, too, so it's confusing. I'm hedging my bets and calling it a "Gingerbread Cake" this time!

Researching gingerbread quickly, I see that it can refer to anything from this type of moist cake to a fairly dry cookie (or biscuit, as it's called in the UK). What they have in common, besides the ginger, is the uses of molasses (or treacle), or possibly honey for at least part of the sweetener.  The following type of recipe is much like the British ginger cake, but without the traditional lemon sauce.

Try this with tea on a cold day!

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA’S WHOLE WHEAT GINGERBREAD CAKE (can be SF or GF or both)
makes 1/ 9” square pan/ 9 servings
Moist, dark and spicy—also low-fat and fiber-rich.

WET MIX:
1/4 cup water
1 T. flax seeds
1 cup dark molasses
1/2 T. lemon juice + any nondairy milk to make 1/2 cup
1/2 cup light organic granulated sugar
1/3 cup smooth applesauce
2 T. oil (olive oil works well in this)
DRY MIX:
2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (a GF flour mix would probably work fine with this-- they usually work well with simple cakes)
1 T. powdered ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. grease and flour a 9" square pan.

In a blender, blend the water and flaxseeds until “gloppy” like egg whites. Add the remaining Wet Mix ingredients and blend well.

In a medium bowl mix the Dry Mix ingredients well. Pour in the Wet Mix and mix briefly. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake 25-35 minutes, testing with a cake tester. Serve warm or cool.

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 285.8 calories; 12% calories from fat; 4.2g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 267.2mg sodium; 699.4mg potassium; 61.1g carbohydrates; 4.0g fiber; 32.4g sugar; 57.0g net carbs; 4.3g protein; 5.3 points.


"DOLLED UP" VARIATION:
Drizzle the top of the warm cake with about 1/4 cup Caramel Sauce (see recipe below) and sprinkle with 3/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts.

With the Variation the Nutrition Facts are as follows: Nutrition (per serving): 396.4 calories; 25% calories from fat; 11.9g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 288.0mg sodium; 796.9mg potassium; 71.4g carbohydrates; 5.1g fiber; 40.3g sugar; 66.4g net carbs; 6.2g protein; 8.1 points

BRYANNA'S VEGAN CARAMEL SAUCE (makes about 1 cup):
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs vegan butter (such as my homemade vegan palm oil-free Buttah)
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegan creamer
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Bring the syrup, brown sugar, Earth Balance and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan and boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the consistency of heavy syrup.

Remove from heat and cool a bit. Heat the creamer just until warm. Whisk into the syrup along with vanilla.

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 2 tablespoons): 173.1 calories; 18% calories from fat; 3.4g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 93.7mg sodium; 59.9mg potassium; 37.9g carbohydrates; 0.0g fiber; 33.1g sugar; 37.9g net carbs; 0.7g protein; 3.7 points.


Enjoy!