Dark Treacle Banana Gingerbread (vegan recipe) (2024)

A rich sticky gingerbread cake baked in a loaf tin. An easy bake with no dairy or eggs. Makes two rich flavoured cakes that are surprisingly light and fluffy.

Hands up who loves a slice of moist sticky gingerbread?

Yes me too.

I haven't made any for ages, but I had some bananas which were, shall we say rather ripe and I had to do something with them quickly before Graham lobbed them in the bin.

Yep, I have to be quick, he has a thing about bananas once they start going brown. I see them as challenge to bake something, he sees rotten fruit that has no right being there.

I usually make some chocolate chip banana bread with them or if I have some silken tofu in the fridge I whip up some luxurious chocolate mousse, but this time I decided to make dark treacle gingerbread with bananas as a binder and for decoration.

Gingerbread has to be slathered with butter or dairy free spread, don't you agree?

It's one of those comforting homemade cakes that would have been served by grandmothers across the UK with a cup of tea in decades gone by.

10 Gingerbread Facts

1. Gingerbread can be a loaf cake or a biscuit (cookie).
2. Gingerbread was allegedly brought to Europe in 992 AD by an Armenian monk who taught French Christians to make gingerbread.
3. In the 13th century German immigrants introduced it to nuns in Sweden who baked gingerbread to help indigestion.
4. In Tudor times gingerbread men were created for the court of Queen Elizabeth I.
5. In the 17th century gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties and was sold in English markets.
6. In the 18th century settlers form Europe introduced gingerbread (the cake) to America where molasses were added.
7. In America it is often known as gingerbread cake or ginger cake.
8. In Germany gingerbread biscuits (cookies) are calledLebkuchen.
9. In Switzerland gingerbread is called Biber and the cake is filled with marzipan.
10. In Poland gingerbread is called Pierniki and has been made since the middle ages.
11. 
    

Flax eggs or no flax eggs?

I usually use flax eggs in my cakes when I'm converting them to a vegan recipe, but my friend Nic over at Yumsomeblog had mentioned to me that you don't actually have to bother making flax eggs and popping them in the fridge to thicken.

Nic said you can just add flaxseed powder (flaxseeds or linseeds freshly ground in a food processor, blender or pestle and mortar) to the cake mixture and just add a little more liquid.

I tried that this time and it worked fine.

I also added a bit more self-raising flour as I knew the cake would be a bit denser with the bananas in it.

It actually resulted in two cakes that are surprisingly light and airy but rich at the same time.

Molasses or treacle?

Molasses and treacle are very similar dark syrups both made during the process of making sugar.

Some molasses (blackstrap molasses) are very dark and almost bitter, so if you are using really dark molasses, you may want to use a mixture of that and golden syrup to sweeten and take the edge of the bitterness.

Both molasses and treacle add to the richness and dark colour of gingerbread.

Nutrition and Calories in Gingerbread

Each loaf cake can be sliced into 12 slices and there are 163 calories per slice, making it suitable for a low calorie diet like the 5:2 diet.

Of course if you slather it with butter or dairy free spread you WILL be adding quite a few more calories.

If you like, you can use golden syrup instead of black treacle, but the you will come out with a paler loaf cake which isn't as rich. The banana on top is also optional.