Special thank you to Amore di Mona for sponsoring this post.
I’ve decided to start with my Christmas recipes early this year and you’re in for a treat with these Chocolate Gingerbread Mini Cakes. I’ve had so much fun making these and I really hope that you will too!
They’re lovely moist gingerbread spiced chocolate cakes filled with luscious chocolate ganache frosting. They’re gluten-free, vegan and tree nut-free so everyone will be able to enjoy these and I promise you they will be one of the best chocolate cakes that they have ever tasted.
That’s if they love gingerbread and chocolate!
I’ve used 25 x 35cm Swiss roll baking tray to make these and a 2″ (5cm) round cookie cutter to cut out the shapes. This recipe will give you 24 individual cut out round cakes. I’ve made a mix of two and three layer mini cakes which I thought looked really lovely as you can see in the photos.
I’ve used oat cream in the ganache to avoid using coconut cream, but if that is a problem for you, use another vegan cream or coconut cream in here. Oat cream has a single cream consistency so if you’re using coconut cream you can use little more because it sets more solid in the fridge. I always leave it set overnight.
For the decoration, I’ve used fresh cranberries and rosemary sprig. You could also use sugared cranberries if you prefer. For the snow I’ve blended some desiccated coconut, it works so well resembling the snow.
I have two more versions of Christmas Mini Cakes on the blog that you might love to try, Chocolate Cranberry Christmas Mini Cakes and a grain-free Gingerbread Christmas Mini Cakes with chestnut flour and walnuts.
Chocolate Gingerbread Mini Cakes (vegan & gluten-free)
Ingredients
- 95g brown rice flour (3/4 cup)
- 70g buckwheat flour (1/2 cup)
- 70g sunflower seeds (1/2 cup), ground into flour consistency
- 30g tapioca flour (1/4 cup)
- 30g cacao or cocoa powder (1/4 cup)
- 100g rapadura sugar (3/4 cup)
- 1 1/2tsp baking powder
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2tsp ginger
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 1/8tsp nutmeg
- 1/8tsp cloves
- pinch sea salt
- 3tbsp ground flaxseed + 9tbsp water
- 80ml apple sauce (1/3 cup)
- 80ml olive oil (1/3 cup)
- 60ml molasses (1/4 cup)
- 2tsp apple cider vinegar
- 60ml hot water (1/4 cup) + more as needed
Chocolate ganache: make the night before
- 220g dark vegan chocolate (7.7oz)
- 240ml oat cream (1 cup)
- 1tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Decoration:
- fresh cranberries
- rosemary sprigs
- blended desiccated coconut for snow
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F)
- Grease and line a 25 x 35cm Swiss roll tin with baking paper.
- Mix 3tbsp ground flaxseed with 9tbsp water and set aside to thicken.
- In a large bowl whisk together brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, ground sunflower seeds, tapioca flour, cacao powder, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
- In a small bowl whisk together flax eggs, apple sauce, olive oil, molasses, apple cider vinegar and water.
- Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. Add extra water 1tbsp at the time to achieve pourable muffin consistency. I've used 2tbsp more in my mix.
- Pour the mixture onto the lined tin and smooth out the surface.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Try not to overbake it.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool down.
- Once cooled using 2" round cookie cutter cut out 25 shapes.
- Spoon ganache into a piping bag fitted with large star nozzle, pipe on top of the cakes and layer them on top of each other. You can create two or three layer cakes or a mix of both.
- Chocolate ganache:
- Roughly chop the chocolate for the chocolate ganache and place into a medium bowl. Place the oat cream and maple syrup into a small pot and gently heat until boiling point. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until completely melted and smooth. Leave to cool down before placing into a fridge to set overnight into a pipeable consistency. It should be perfect consistency for piping but if it's too hard leave it at room temperature for a little while to soften.
- Decorate with cranberries and rosemary sprigs.
- Blend some desiccated coconut and sprinkle on top and around the mini cakes to resemble snow.
Notes
I’ve used oat cream in the ganache to avoid using coconut cream, but if that is a problem for you, use another vegan cream or coconut cream in here. Oat cream has a single cream consistency so if you’re using coconut cream you can use either less chocolate or little more cream because it sets more solid in the fridge. I always leave it set overnight.
If you don't need these to be tree nut-free, you can replace sunflower seeds with ground almonds and rapadura sugar with coconut sugar.
How pretty, Hana! Everything you make looks delicate and so tempting!
Thank you so much for your lovely words, Dear Natalia! I had so much fun making these :) Love Hxx
These look just beautiful. Do you have a recipe for oat cream or is this something to be purchased?
Thank you so much Jacquie! I buy one from Oatly, but if you can’t find it just use another vegan cream that you like. Oat cream is single consistency cream. If you use coconut cream you can use less chocolate because it sets thicker.
Gorgeous! Would almond flour work in place of the sunflower seeds?
Thank you Katie! Ground almonds would be the best. Hope you like them :)
I love love this , looks extra decadent, no would believe this is gluten free and vegan , yet grain free!! I’ll definitely try it! Few questions please here :
– What is radpdura sugar? And can we add coconut sugar instead?
-Can we add tapioca starch or potato starch in place of tapioca flour ?
-And for the buckwheat and brown rice, aren’t these two flours are high in protein? Won’t that make the cake dense and heavy ? Also, I don’t see you using starches as many gluten free cakes are. Care to explain?
Thanks in Advance!
Hi Farida, rapadura sugar is a raw sugar from Brazil, I use it in the allergy-friendly recipes instead of coconut sugar, also it’s a better value. You can happily substitute it with coconut sugar. Tapioca flour and tapioca starch are the same thing and I use either tapioca or arrowroot in my recipes as a starch. Over the years I’ve learned how to create my gluten-free vegan sponge cakes light and moist, all of the wholefood gluten-free flours are high in protein, it’s not a problem. You can always use a shop bought gluten-free mix if you prefer. Hope you love the recipe :)
Hi. Is the cake dough malleable enough to do a log instead? Thanks
Hi Sueli, you could try, but better if you add some extra binding like psyllium or xanthan gum.
These look amazing!
If gluten isnt an issue – could i swap the flour out, with out it causing to many problems?