This orange and gingerbread layer cake is decorated with homemade gingerbread cookies and is the perfect showstopper cake for this festive season.
The warming gingerbread flavor is complemented by fruity orange and sweet caramel that oozes out between the layers when you dig in! Make it with a choice of brown sugar cinnamon meringue buttercream or easy vegan cream cheese frosting.
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This post was kindly sponsored by vomFASS. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands who sponsor my work!
🍊What is orange extra virgin olive oil?
vomFASS orange EVOO is a single-origin extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany, Italy. The oil is naturally infused with fresh oranges, giving it a distinctive aroma and bright, fruity flavor with an intense orange kick! It adds an incredibly moist texture and bright orange flavor to baking and is perfect paired with warming winter spices, like in this vegan ginger cake.
vomFASS specializes in sustainable high-quality balsamic vinegars, olive oils, nut oils, and spirits, with over 300 stores worldwide where you can come in and have a "taste experience" before filling your bottles directly from the barrel. You can also order from their sites via vomFASSusa, vomFASS.de, and vomFASSuk (which also covers Ireland).
🧾 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this gingerbread orange olive oil cake:
You will also need a batch of vegan buttercream (either cream cheese or brown sugar frosting) and some optional vegan gingerbread cookies for decoration!
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil: This gives the gingerbread cake an incredibly fruity twist and a beautiful moist crumb.
- Cane Molasses: Use unsulphured molasses (I use Grandma's brand), do not use blackstrap molasses, as it is very bitter and super concentrated. If you can't find regular molasses, you can try using black treacle instead which is slightly sweeter.
- Gingerbread Spices: A combination of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves.
- Non-Dairy Milk: I use soy milk for the best results in vegan baking, but feel free to grab oat milk or almond milk if you need to. It's mixed with vinegar to create a vegan buttermilk substitute.
- Light Brown Sugar: I use light muscovado sugar.
- Vegan Greek Yogurt: I use dairy-free Greek-style yogurt, for an incredibly moist cake. You can replace it with vegan sour cream, skyr, or thick coconut yogurt.
- Frosting Options: Try my brown sugar buttercream if you prefer a less-sweet frosting. It's a spin on Swiss buttercream and uses whipped aquafaba, brown sugar, cinnamon, and dairy-free butter. For a quick and easy option, go for this cream cheese frosting instead, which uses powdered sugar, vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, and vanilla.
🔪 Instructions
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make this vegan gingerbread cake recipe. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Make the caramel sauce:
First, make the orange caramel sauce, which needs to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight if preferred) to become a thick pourable consistency.
Step 1: Add the sugar and water to a saucepan over medium heat until the mixture turns a deep caramel color.
Step 2: Whisk in the butter - it will bubble up so be careful. Drizzle the coconut cream into the caramel whilst whisking until combined. Simmer gently for 2 minutes.
Step 3: Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the orange juice. Allow it to cool to room temperature, transfer to a sealed jar, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until ready to use.
Prepare and bake the cakes:
This can also be done a day ahead as the cakes are easier to work with when chilled. However, you can just as easily pop them in the fridge for an hour before assembly if you can't wait.
Step 1: To a large mixing bowl, add brown sugar, orange extra virgin olive oil, molasses, yogurt, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Whisk in the ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Step 2: Whisk in the vegan buttermilk (dairy-free milk + vinegar).
Step 3: Add dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt) to the wet ingredients and mix until there are no visible pockets of flour. Do not be tempted to overmix!
Step 4: Transfer the cake batter to the lined cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 15 minutes and then carefully turn them out onto a cooling rack to continue cooling.
Assemble the cake:
Add 2 cookie scoops of buttercream on top of the first cake and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Pipe a thin ring of frosting around the edge to create a dam for the caramel. Add 2 tablespoons of cooled caramel sauce and carefully smooth it using the spatula. Place the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes before adding the next layer.
Add the next layer of cake and repeat. Top with the final layer of cake. Tip: If you have trouble lining up your cake layers, use cake dowels or skewers to keep the cake structured.
Crumb-coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Use the remaining frosting to coat around the top and down the sides of the cake. Carefully smooth everything out with a cake scraper.
Press gingerbread cookies into the sides of the cake, and pour the remaining caramel sauce on top of the cake before serving.
💭 Cake Assembly Tips
Wait until completely cool before peeling away the parchment paper from the base of the cakes. This helps to prevent the cakes from cracking.
Chill your cakes for an hour before frosting to make them easier to work with. Better still, you can prep them a day ahead, cover them with plastic wrap, and chill them overnight.
Don't prep the frosting until you're ready to use it. Where possible, I always suggest making buttercream fresh as it is much easier to work with when lusciously smooth and straight from the mixer.
Freeze the frosted and filled cake layers for 10 minutes before adding the next layer to create a sturdy cake structure.
💬 FAQs
I haven't tested this recipe with GF flour, so I can't recommend it.
If you serve it on the same day, you can let it sit at room temperature. Otherwise, transfer the cake to an airtight container or cake box and refrigerate for 3-4 days. Let the cake sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving as the frosting will harden when chilled.
Yes! This is a great way to extend the shelf life if you have leftovers. First, slice the cake into servings and place them in a sealed container, separating each slice with a piece of parchment. You can freeze them for up to a month, then let them defrost in the fridge overnight or at room temp for a few hours before serving.
🍰 More Vegan Cake Recipes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Orange Caramel Gingerbread Cake
Ingredients
Orange Caramel Sauce
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 60 ml (¼ cup) water
- 50 g (1.75 oz) vegan butter
- 100 g (3.5 oz) coconut cream *see note 4
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
Orange Gingerbread Cake
- 360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 batch (1 cup) vegan buttermilk *see note 1
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) light brown sugar
- 120 ml (½ cup) orange extra virgin olive oil *see note 2
- 120 g (⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon) cane molasses NOT blackstrap
- 120 g (½ cup) vegan Greek-style yogurt *see note 3
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Garnish
- 1 batch vegan cinnamon buttercream or vegan cream cheese frosting
- ¼ batch vegan gingerbread cookies optional, for garnish
Instructions
Caramel Sauce (prep morning or day ahead)
- Add the sugar and water to a saucepan over medium heat until the mixture turns a deep caramel color.
- Whisk in the butter - it will bubble up so be careful. Drizzle the coconut cream into the caramel whilst whisking until combined. Simmer gently for 2 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the orange juice. Allow it to room temperature, transfer to a sealed jar, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until ready to use.
Orange Gingerbread Cake (prep morning or day ahead)
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to fan-forced 160°C/320°F or conventional 180°C/356°F. Lighty grease the base and sides of three 6" cake tins with oil. Line each base with a circle of parchment paper.
- Mix dry ingredients: Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt into a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Make buttermilk: Mix the soy milk and apple cider vinegar/apple balsamic star in a jug and set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients and spices: To a large bowl, add brown sugar, orange extra virgin olive oil, molasses, yogurt, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.Whisk in the ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Then whisk in the vegan buttermilk (soy milk + vinegar)
- Make the batter: Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until there are no visible pockets of flour. Do not be tempted to overmix!
- Bake: Transfer the cake batter to the lined cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins. To check they are done, insert a skewer or toothpick into the center, it should come out almost clean with a few crumbs. If there is still wet batter on the skewer, continue to bake for another 5 minutes if and as needed.
- Cool the cakes: Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 15 minutes and then carefully turn them out onto a cooling rack to come to room temperature. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for an hour (or overnight). When completely cool, carefully peel away the parchment from the base of the cakes.
Assembly (day of serving)
- Make a batch of vegan cinnamon buttercream, or vegan cream cheese frosting.
- Place a tiny amount of frosting on a cake turntable and secure the first sponge layer on top of it. Scoop 2 cookie scoops of buttercream on top of the first cake and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly.
- Pipe a thin ring of frosting around the edge to create a dam for the caramel. Add 2 tablespoons of cooled caramel sauce and very carefully smooth it out using the spatula.Place the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes before adding the next layer.
- Add the next layer of cake and repeat. Top with the final layer of cake. Tip: If you have trouble lining up your cake layers, you can use cake dowels or skewers to keep the cake structured.
- Crumb coat: Add a thin layer of frosting around the cake and smooth everything out with a cake scraper (it doesn't need to look perfect at this point). Place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Use the remaining frosting to coat around the top and down the sides of the cake. Carefully smooth everything out with a cake scraper. Garnish with gingerbread cookies and pour the remaining caramel sauce on top of the cake before serving.
Notes
- Vegan Buttermilk: I use soy milk and vomFASS apple balsamic star in place of apple cider vinegar, following this buttermilk recipe.
- Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil: I use vomFASS, this can be found in their stores worldwide or via their websites for UK & Ireland, the US, and Germany.
- Vegan Greek-Style Yogurt: Sub for vegan sour cream or thick coconut yogurt.
- Coconut Cream: Sub for vegan heavy cream, such as soy or oat cream.
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