Gluten-Free Chocolate Gingerbread Recipe (2024)

Karina's Gluten-Free Chocolate Gingerbread Recipe

Recipe originally published December 2011 by Karina Allrich.

The taste of this dense and lovely gingerbread smacks delightfully of cocoa and ginger spice. The texture is akin to pound cake. This is a perfect not-too-sweet cake for afternoon tea with your best friend, or an edible sigh-inducing respite from wrapping gifts. Nibble it playing Scrabble by a crackling fire.

Ingredients:

1 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup cornstarch, sweet rice flour, or potato starch- not potato flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg or cardamon
2 large organic free-range eggs, beaten
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup organic coconut oil
4 tablespoons non-dairy milk
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 9-inch ceramic loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper that rises up the long sides of the pan.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients- flours/starches through nutmeg.

Add in the eggs, molasses, coconut oil, non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and beat well, until the batter is smooth. A standing mixer will handle this task best.

Scoop the gingerbread batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the center of the oven for roughly an hour. The top will crack a bit. A cake tester inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Allow the loaf to cool in the pan until it is cooled enough to handle. Gently remove it from the pan (this is where the parchment paper lining comes in handy) and continue to cool on a wire rack.

Slice with a sharp bread knife.

Wrap the loaf well for storing overnight. For longer storage, slice and wrap pieces in foil, bag, and freeze.

Cook time: About 1 hour

Makes one dark and divine gingerbread loaf.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

Karina's Recipe Notes:

The first notation I would like to mention is your choice of loaf pan. When it comes to gluten-free baking, not all loaf pans are created equal. A thin metallic pan just won't do. The outside batter, you see, bakes too rapidly, leaving the center to wallow in gooey, gluten-free stubbornness. If your tea loaves and cakes consistently turn out dampish in the middle- it may be your pan choice. A sturdy ceramic loaf pan heats slowly, evenly, allowing the center of the batter the time it needs to play catch up. Here's the ceramic loaf pan I use.

Another alternative is to try baking tea loaf recipes in mini-loaves. Follow the manufacturer's instruction for baking times.

Now for subbing. If you prefer dairy- use butter and milk. For vegan, use Ener-G Egg Replacer in place of eggs (this particular egg replacer has never let me down; use as instructed on the package).

I am finding coconut oil to be the best butter substitute for baking cakes and muffins and brownies- it gives these gluten-free dairy-free baked goods a rich, lovely texture. If you use another oil, the result may be less rich. We ran out of coconut oil last week and I subbed organic Canola oil in a brownie recipe and it just wasn't the same. It was drier and less fudgy.

And as for flours- I understand some of you cannot use almond meal. I would choose a sweet, medium weight alternative. Perhaps certified gluten-free oat flour or millet flour. Or sorghum flour. Please no white rice flour. It really brings nada to gluten-free recipes.

And as always- use fresh, pungent spices. Not last year's dregs.
For substitutions, please see my guide to baking with substitutions here.