Eat this Luscious Vegan Gingerbread on its own or serve with dollops of oat-milk crème fraîche, a squiggle of date molasses, or – at Christmas time – a scattering of pomegranate seeds for seasonal sumptuousness. Nigella suggests making this at least a day before you plan to eat it, as this allows time for the rich flavour to develop. Challenging, we know, but the reward is worth it.
Luscious Vegan Gingerbread Recipe
Makes 12–18 pieces
(Vegan)
Ingredients
150 ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
200 g golden syrup
200 g black treacle
125 g dark muscovado sugar
75 g soft pitted prunes, finely chopped
30 g ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1⁄8 teaspoon ground cloves
1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
250 ml (1 cup) oat milk
300 g (2 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1⁄2 tablespoons warm water
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C fan-forced (170°C conventional). Grease a 23 cm square tin with the extra vegetable oil and line the base and sides with baking paper.
Measure the oil in a jug and pour it into a fairly wide, heavy based saucepan. Measure the golden syrup and treacle using the oily jug, as this will stop them sticking and help them pour out easily into the pan.
Add the golden syrup, treacle, sugar, prunes, ginger, spices and salt and whisk over low heat until warm and just combined. Don’t whisk too much: you do not want to get a lot of air in the mixture. Remove the pan from the heat, then gently whisk in the oat milk.
Whisk in the flour in 3–4 batches, getting rid of any lumps patiently as you go. This will take a few minutes; the only lumps you should see are the little bits of prune, although they will melt into the gingerbread as it bakes.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the warm water (do this in a bigger cup than you think it needs), then add the vinegar. Quickly pour the fizzing mixture into the pan and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 50–55 minutes, though start checking at 45 minutes. It may look cooked after 45 minutes, but as it’s so damp, a cake tester won’t help enormously – you’d expect some crumbs to stick to it – so take it out of the oven and touch the top quickly; if cooked, it should bounce back a bit under your fingers.
Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack. If you can, resist eating it the moment it has cooled. To taste this at its best, wrap the tin first in baking paper and then in foil, and leave for a day or two before cutting into it.
It will keep nicely, wrapped like this, for up to 5 days.
Credit: Luscious Vegan Gingerbread from Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes and Stories by Nigella Lawson (Vintage).
Recipe extract from ‘Sweet Memories’. Social enterprise Two Good Co is proud to introduce its most heartfelt project yet – ‘Sweet Memories’, a four-part cookbook series that explores the emotional power of desserts to comfort, connect and celebrate life’s sweetest moments. Each recipe in Sweet Memories is a tribute to Two Good’s mission of restoring dignity and opportunity to women with lived experience of domestic violence, homelessness and complex trauma. As with all their products, 50% of profits from every sale go directly to Two Good’s impact programs, which include meaningful employment, donations to shelters, and community support for vulnerable women rebuilding their lives. The Sweet Memories cookbook collection is now available to order as a box set via twogood.com.au
