Spiced Ginger & Chocolate Loaf Cake
This super-easy spiced ginger and chocolate loaf cake is perfect for those cold winter days, a delicious chocolate cake with a hint of ginger spice. Beautifully moist and so packed with flavour that you’ll want to reach for a second slice.
I love making loaf cake recipes like my coffee and walnut loaf and my lemon drizzle loaf, but this just hits the spot during those winter days. It’s a super-easy one-bowl recipe and sure to become an instant family favourite, perfect for any occasion.
What is the one-bowl method?
Saving time and simplifying the process, the one-bowl method requires you to mix all the ingredients together in one bowl before pouring them into a loaf tin and baking in the oven.
If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers to know what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂
RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS
- EASE: one bowl recipe making it quick and easy with impressive results.
- TASTE & TEXTURE: a buttery, moist sponge flavoured with ginger and chocolate.
- QUANTITY: 12 slices.
- TIME: 1 hour (includes 45-50 minutes baking time).
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
INGREDIENTS
What you’ll need for making this spiced ginger cake recipe:
- Butter – make sure you bring the butter to room temperature so it will cream easily. Room temperature means it’s soft enough, so when you press into it, your finger leaves a dent, but not too soft that it’s greasy or oily. Also, make sure to use unsalted butter to ensure the cake doesn’t turn out too salty.
- Soft brown sugar or light muscovado sugar – create moisture and gives a caramelised taste to the cake as well as enhancing the colour.
- Black treacle – provides moisture and depth of flavour to the cake. If you can’t find black treacle, it can be substituted with dark molasses.
- Medium eggs – build structure and richness to a recipe. Make sure they are at room temperature before use.
- Milk – helps to create a soft crumb by adding moisture. Make sure it’s at room temperature before use.
- Plain (all-purpose) flour or self-raising flour – builds structure.
- Ginger – I’ve included ground ginger, fresh ginger, and chopped stem ginger. I’ve also used stem ginger syrup (directly from the jar) in the finishing of the cake.
- Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda – is a chemical leavening which works both prior to and during baking. It becomes activated when it’s combined with both an acidic ingredient and liquid, which increases the volume of the ingredients, creating a nice light texture. Please make sure it has not expired.
- Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your cakes. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of all the ingredients, making your cake taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your cakes to the next level!
WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?
Here are a few simple adaptations that you can make to change up the flavour of this spiced ginger chocolate loaf recipe.
- Spices – if you want to add an additional ground spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice are all great additions that complement the chocolate in this cake.
- Decorating – if you would like to decorate this spiced ginger chocolate loaf differently, vanilla buttercream or cream cheese frosting would make great alternatives.
If you experiment, please leave a comment at the bottom of the post – it’s really helpful to me and other readers to know how you got on. I regularly update these posts and the feedback I receive helps to make the recipes even more useful and interesting.
NUTRITION
Serving: spiced ginger and chocolate loaf slice
I have provided some nutrition information as a guide. However, the data can vary for a recipe based on many factors such as precision of measurements, ingredients, or the source of nutrition data.
I make every effort to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.
I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients you use in your recipe.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 490 kcal (25%) |
| Total Fat | 22.3 g (32%) |
| Carbs | 67.8 g (26%) |
| Sugars | 50.8 g (56%) |
| Protein | 4.9 g (9%) |
STORAGE AND FREEZING
This cake will keep well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days. If you’ve topped your cake with icing, then store it in the fridge.
Freezing: Freeze the loaf whole or cut it into slices in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.
These spatulas are so useful for baking. I use them every day and not just for baking. They have good rigid handles, excellent for scraping out bowls, dishes and frying pans. The large spatula is not flat, it has a raised centre, which makes it very strong.
Perfect for banana bread, lemon drizzle, pound cake and traditional loaves.
Digital kitchen scales: I highly recommend using metric measurements rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense, or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.
Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
RECIPE TIPS
- Lining your pan – I highly recommend lining your pan with baking paper or parchment paper, NOT greaseproof paper. It makes it so much easier to remove the cakes.
- Try not to let your batter curdle – when adding the eggs, make sure to add one at a time and mix on a low speed. It’s really important you take your time.
- Chop the stem ginger finely so that it distributes evenly throughout the entire cake.
- Once you have added the flour, don’t overmix the cake batter as it will lead to a tough and rubbery cake.
- Sudden temperature changes can cause cakes to sink in the middle. To prevent this, avoid opening the oven door before 3/4 of the baking time, even if you need to rotate your cake.
- When checking your cake, to see if it is baked, quickly slide it out on the oven shelf just a little, test with a skewer, and if it comes out clean, it’s ready. If it’s not quite done, you can push it back quickly for a few more minutes.
Spiced Ginger & Chocolate Loaf Cake
INGREDIENTS LIST
- 250 g butter
- 250 g black treacle (or molasses)
- 250 g light brown sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 250 ml whole milk (or water)
- 200 g self-raising or plain flour (all-purpose)
- 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 2½ tsp ground ginger
- 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (US: baking soda)
- 70 g crystallised ginger (optional)
Vanilla icing
- 120 g icing sugar (US powdered sugar)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste
- 2-4 tbsp double or heavy cream (or milk)
Decoration
- 30 g crystallised ginger (optional)
- 50 g dark chocolate (melted)
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 170°C fan / 375°F / Gas 5 and line a 2-pound loaf pan (900g) with baking or parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, sugar and black treacle, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk. Set aside to cool until lukewarm, then beat in the eggs.
- Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and salt into the saucepan and stir until you have a smooth batter. Finally, incorporate the crystalized ginger (if using).
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Give it a sharp tap on a work surface to get rid of any air bubbles.
- Baking: Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick or skewer comes out with a sticky crumb or two attached. Watch it carefully as it has a tendency to easily over bake. Tent the cake with foil for the final 15 minutes if it is browning too quickly.
- Allow the cake to cool in the baking pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Buttercream: When the cake has cooled. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then pour it over the cake and spread it evenly using a spatula. Decorate with pieces of crystalised sugar.
- Chocolate drizzle: Finally, melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a simmering saucepan of water or in the microwave. Drizzle over the top from side to side and then leave to set before slicing.
Notes & Tips
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