Deliciously moist grain-free vegan gingerbread Christmas mini cakes with macadamia frosting and cranberry jam.
Christmas has arrived to the blog and I have the yummiest Gingerbread Christmas Mini Cakes recipe for you.
Because so many of you are now following a grain-free diet, I gave myself a challenge to make these grain-free and I’ve used a mix of ground walnuts and chestnut flour.
The sponge is beautifully moist, it raised well (after few adjustments) and the flavor is amazing. I’ve used my Vegan Macadamia Mascarpone Frosting to pipe the decoration and Cranberry Chia Jam for filling.
I’ve worked on this recipe last weekend when it was snowing, so rare in London, so I got inspired to make some snow for my mini cakes too :) You probably wondering what I’ve used, I’ve just blitzed some flaked coconut in my blender.
My loyal testers (even the fussy ones) really loved this recipe and I really hope you will too! I’m hoping to have couple more Christmas recipes for you before Christmas and also thinking about making raw version of this one if I have enough time.
I have two more versions of Christmas Mini Cakes on the blog that you might love to try, my latest version Chocolate Gingerbread Mini Cakes and my original Chocolate Cranberry Christmas Mini Cakes.
Hope you love them!
Gingerbread Christmas Mini Cakes (grain-free & vegan)
Deliciously moist grain-free vegan gingerbread Christmas mini cakes with macadamia frosting and cranberry jam.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chestnut flour (75 grams)
- 1 cup ground walnuts (100 grams)
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour (30 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- pinch ground nutmeg
- pinch sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar (75 grams)
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 6 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup apple sauce (120 ml)
- 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- 1/4 cup olive oil (60 ml)
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Assemble:
- 1 quantity Vegan Macadamia Mascarpone Frosting
- 1 quantity Cranberry Chia Jam
- fresh cranberries
- rosemary sprigs
- blended flaked coconut for snow
Instructions
- Mix 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 6 tablespoons water and set aside to thicken.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C)
- Grease and line 9" springform cake baking tin.
- In a large bowl whisk together chestnut flour, ground walnuts, tapioca flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt and sugar and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together flax eggs, apple sauce, molasses, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla.
- Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. You should have muffin consistency.
- Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and level out the surface.
- Bake for about 35 min or until a cocktail stick comes out almost clean. It will be slightly sticky.
- Remove from the oven once ready and leave to cool down for 20 min before removing from the tin.
- Once completely cooled place onto a flat surface and using 2" round pastry cutter carefully cut out shapes. You should end up with 11-12 shapes.
- Spoon some of the macadamia frosting into a piping bag fitted with large round nozzle and pipe around the edges. Now dollop some cranberry chia jam into the middle. Place a layer on top and repeat. Top with fresh cranberry and rosemary sprigs.
- To make the snow effect, blend some flaked coconut in a blender until desired consistency. Sprinkle on top and around the decorated mini cakes.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 499Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 385mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 6gSugar: 28gProtein: 5g
Heavenly! Absolutely perfect in all ways: sponge, flavour, frosting & chia jam filling… YUM! It put me in such a festive mood too :-)
Thank you so much Teresa for such wonderful comment! Merry Christmas! xx
Hana, these mini cakes look so beautiful! Something to try this Christmas! <3
Thank you so much Laine! Hope you enjoy them :)
What is a good substitute for chestnut flour?
Hi Kristen, you should be able to replace it with any high protein flour in this recipe – teff, buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa or a mix of two.
Hello,
These look amazing. I would like to make them. Can I sub tapioca for spelt flour or something else.
Thanks
Meggen
Hi Meggen, yes, I think you can substitute the tapioca with the spelt flour, add little bit of plant milk if the mix is too thick. Alternatively you can use arrowroot or other starch too. Hope it goes well :)
Hi, I love this recipe, can you replace the apple sauce with something as I’m allergic to them?
Thanks ????
Hi Gemma, you could replace it with any other fruit or veggie puree that would work flavour wise. I’m thinking banana or pear possibly sweet potato or pumpkin. Would this work for you?