Light and fluffy vegan gingerbread donuts! They are baked not fried, refined sugar free and have a luscious maple cashew frosting.
Gingerbread cookies at Christmas aren't always fun - they go stale quickly and can be a pain to decorate. On the other hand, gingerbread CAKE is great! It's fluffy, well spiced and can be as simple or complex as you want! These vegan gingerbread donuts are definitely on the simple side of the spectrum.
Cakey vegan donuts
I don't always want to sit around to wait for yeast breads to rise so I made these donuts with a cake-like batter. To make the donuts, you need simple ingredients such as flour, spices and oil so hopefully you don't need to make any extra trips to the shops!
The cakey texture is DIVINE - they will melt in your mouth and are so fluffy! These donuts are baked and not fried which kinda means you can eat more of them in one sitting ;).
Refined-sugar free donuts
I did a poll on my Instagram a few months ago and I know the amount of sugar in baked treats is one of the most important thing to my audience. These donuts are not too sweet and are sweetened with coconut sugar. I always prefer using granulated sugars rather than liquid sweeteners in baked treats as it makes them FLUFFIER!
The maple cashew frosting
Traditionally, gingerbread cookies have molasses in them. I didn't want to miss out on this flavour profile so I used maple syrup to sweeten the cashew frosting. It is ADDICTIVE and I found myself eating it by the spoonful!
Decorating the donuts with gingerbread people
This is completely optional but adds a special cute touch to the donuts! I topped the donuts with my Healthy Vegan Gingerbread Cookies. If you store the gingerbread donuts with the cookies on top, the cookies will naturally absorb the moisture from the donuts making them soft. However, the donuts and cookies are still delicious this way!
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Love gingerbread as much as me?
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Vegan Gingerbread Donuts
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (220g) plain or all-purpose flour
- ¾ cups (120g) coconut sugar, or organic brown sugar
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- Pinch of any good-quality salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (315g) dairy free milk, such as almond, soy or coconut,
- ¼ cup (45g) dairy free yoghurt, such as coconut, soy or almond
- ¼ cup (65g) light-tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Frosting (optional)
- 1 cup (130g) cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours
- ½ cup (120g) coconut cream
- ¼ cup (85g) maple syrup, or to taste
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Half a lemon, zest and juice (optional)
- Pinch of any good-quality salt
To decorate (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Place two silicone donut moulds on a baking tray.
- To make the donuts: Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined.
- Pipe or spoon the batter into the donut moulds.
- Bake the donuts for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer can be inserted in a donut and it comes out clean. Allow the donuts to fully cool in the moulds then carefully remove them.
- To make the frosting: Drain the cashews. Add the cashews and the rest of the ingredients to a blender. Blend the mixture until it is as smooth as possible.
- Pour the frosting into a bowl. Carefully dip each donut into the frosting.
- Place gingerbread people on the donuts if desired.
- Serve the donuts immediately. Alternatively, store the donuts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The donuts and frosting can frozen separately for up to 1 month.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
Delicious! I made the donuts and used a powdered sugar icing recipe because I don't have all the ingredients for the frosting in the recipe. It was amazing. The donuts are so fluffy and rich. I had to exercise some serious self control before I ate them all in one sitting!
Aw a powdered sugar icing sounds lovely and I'm so glad you enjoyed the texture of these! And oh I hear you about the self control haha. Thank you so much for your comment x
These donuts look so beyond delicious. I've somehow never made donuts at home and now I'll certainly need to give it a go!
Thanks Gabriella! They really were delicious! I hope you love them as much as I did xo