Gluten free ginger spiced cake

Updated 6th February 2022

Here’s another super recipe to share with you. This gluten free ginger spiced cake has a yummy soft golden crumb, and is perfectly spiced with warming ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

The original recipe for this gluten free ginger spiced cake came from one of Juvela’s recipe booklets, which I stumbled across whilst on the hunt for something quick and easy to make for my dad, who’s rather partial to a slice of cake with his cuppa at suppertime.

I didn’t decorate the cake the first time I made it, so my dad was able to portion it up and pop it into his freezer. But when I made it again, I jazzed it up (as the original recipe suggests) with glace icing and crystallised stem ginger. This is such a simple finishing touch, but one which transforms the cake into something a little more special.

This ginger spiced cake is a dream to make and smells amazing whilst baking. Just the ticket to chase away the gloom on a rainy/chilly day.

Ingredients

For the cake
175g (6oz) light muscovado sugar (you can use light soft brown sugar instead, but I feel the muscovado gives more depth of flavour to the cake)
175g (6oz) unsalted butter, (cut into small cubes, it will melt quicker)
175g (6oz) gluten free self-raising flour or mix (add ¼ teaspoon of xanthan gum if your flour doesn’t already contain this or guar gum)
1 heaped teaspoon ground *ginger
½ teaspoon ground *cinnamon
¼ teaspoon *nutmeg
2 large beaten eggs
8 cubes *crystallised stem ginger or 3 balls of *stem ginger (drained well from the syrup), finely chopped 

To decorate
110g (4oz) icing sugar if you want to pipe/drizzle and 150g (5oz) if you want to spread and cover the top of the cake with the icing.
Boiled water
6 cubes *crystallised stem ginger, finely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4/160C Fan.

Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. Or use a pre-made liner. No grease is required with liners and they make lining baking tins an absolute doddle!

Melt the butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat. Keep giving it a quick stir until the butter has just melted. Take of the heat and beat well to blend the butter and sugar together. 

Pop the gluten free flour and spices into a large bowl and give it a quick stir with a fork. If you are using chopped crystallised or stem ginger, now is the time to add it. Next add the beaten eggs and melted butter and sugar. Mix together with a large metal spoon or hand whisk until smooth and glossy. Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and then into the oven.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until risen and golden brown, and when a skewer or knife is inserted into the centre it comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

Once cold, remove the cake from the tin, peel off the paper and decorate with glacé icing, if you wish. 

To make the icing: Place the icing sugar into a deep bowl (one that is large enough to give it a good mix without the sugar billowing over the sides). Add just enough boiled water to make a nice thick glossy icing, that is not transparent or too runny. Stir until smooth.

To decorate; you can either spoon the glacé icing over the top of the cake and smooth out with a flat edged knife and then scatter over the chopped ginger or leave plain.

Or fill a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle (or snip the end of a disposable one) with icing, and pipe fine lines over the top of the cake. If you don’t have a piping bag, drizzle the icing over with a spoon instead. And then, before the icing has had chance to set, scatter over the finely chopped ginger pieces.

Recipe notes and suggestions:

Left undecorated, this cake can be frozen. Slice or leave whole. Just wrap it well and label. 

Dark chocolate works really well with ginger, and I feel a nice thick ganache coating or rich hot chocolate sauce would compliment this cake fabulously. A nice thick slice would also be VERY yummy served warm with a trickle of maple syrup and a generous scoop of good *vanilla ice cream.

Should you choose to leave the cake plain and skip the icing. You may instead fancy scattering Demerara sugar over the top of the cake before you bake it. This will result in a lovely sweet crunchy topping.

For a richer cake, try using half half dark and half light muscovado sugar, rather than using all light. I’ve made the cake this way a few times and it’s delicious. 

Whilst I have offered few suggestions, this ginger spiced cake is gorgeous just as it comes or sliced and spread with salted butter.

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Thanks so much for checking out this gluten free ginger spiced cake recipe. If ginger is your thing you may fancy giving my grandma’s ginger biscuits a go. They’re excellent and one of the most popular recipes I have on my blog. Thanks Grandma xx

For now,
Liz x

P.S. I’ve also got a quick recipe demo of me popping one of these yummy ginger spiced cake’s together. Click here to watch. 

*Check this product to ensure that there are no gluten containing ingredients, ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ for a coeliac/gluten free diet warnings on the pack.