As soon as Winter comes knocking we all want comforting tasty foods and treats to get us through the cold dark days. A classic flavour of the season is gingerbread. But not everyone is a fan of molasses…… strange I know! But some people just find the flavour too strong and pass on products that contain it, no matter how little is in it. So to overcome this problem I dug up an old family recipe to share with you, Light Tasty Molasses Free Gingerbread.
No Molasses?
Yep, you read that right, but we still manage to keep this gingerbread tasting, well like gingerbread. To compensate for the sticky, sweet deliciousness molasses brings we use just golden syrup. Which is a sweet sticky by-product of the sugar refining process. Hey, I never said this was going to be healthy! I am aware that golden syrup is not readily available all over the world, even though it is sold all over the world. Does that even make sense?
For a more in-depth look at Golden Syrup please read this article by Wikipedia
Golden Syrup has a very sweet caramelised flavour to it. A lot of vegans in the UK use it as a honey substitute, but I don’t know if honey could be subbed in this recipe. Golden syrup has the same feel and texture as light corn syrup, but 10 times sweeter and a lot more flavour. If you decide to give this recipe a go with honey let me know, I’d love to see how it turns out.
Packing in Some Flavour
Like most gingerbread recipes we use some light brown sugar, for flavour and it helps to keep this cake moist (sorry, I know). And we pack in a few tablespoons of ground ginger. The frosting is also a simple buttercream flavoured with some more ground ginger. The frosting is completely optional, I often make this recipe without frosting and enjoy it as a mid-morning snack. After all, it already has plenty of sugar in it, without adding more on top. But it is almost Christmas 😉
And if we can’t indulge a little at Christmas and during the holidays, then when can we? Because let’s be honest, come January 1st we will all be healthy eating!!!
So with just over a week to go until the big day, I am sure we are all super busy and running around like headless chickens. So I shall cut this short and hand over the recipe 😀
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Light Tasty Molasses Free Gingerbread
Ingredients
- 230 grams plain / all-purpose flour (2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder and baking soda
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 180 millilitres / 240 grams golden syrup (3/4 cup)
- 85 grams unsalted butter (2/3 stick)
- 60 grams light brown sugar (1/3 cup - packed)
- 1 large Egg
- Drop of milk
Buttercream
- 100 grams unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 250 grams Icing sugar (2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4
- Line an 8x8 inch tin with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and ground ginger together and place to one side.
- In a small saucepan put the golden syrup, unsalted butter and sugar together and stir together on a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted, once done put aside for a minute to cool a little.
- After a minute, add the melted ingredients to your bowl of flour. Add your egg and mix, until everything is well incorporated. Add a drop of milk to the batter to loosen it a little so it’s at dropping consistency.
- Pop your cake in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes. Checking once 30 minutes is up as some ovens are hotter than others. You want your cake to have a rich golden colour to it and a pick to come out clean when inserted.
- Take it out of the oven and leave it to fully cool in its tin.
- To make the buttercream, beat the butter until it is pale and fluffy.
- Mix in the icing sugar and ground ginger with the tablespoon milk until you have a smooth fluffy buttercream.
- Once your cake is cool spread the buttercream over the top, sprinkles are optional.
- Keep this cake in an airtight container in a cool environment. It will keep for 5 days.
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What a great idea! I know several people who are anti-molasses, so this is the perfect solution. Merry Christmas Emma!!
Thank you Brianna, hope you had a great Christmas 😀
My family absolutely loved this gingerbread recipe. It’s definitely a keeper! Pinned.
Thank you Diane 😀
Oh yum! This looks like the type of cake that I would cut a small square and then a couple of more. Merry Christmas!
I did exactly that Shauna 😀 Hope you had a great Christmas.
i actually strongly dislike the taste of molasses, so i’m very curious about this golden syrup! these bars are perfect, emma, from top to bottom!
Thank you Grace. Golden syrup is very sweet and a great substitute for molasses.
I always find gingerbread way too dense and heavy! I on’t mind trying this recipe 🙂
This is a far lighter version of gingerbread 😀
Love gingerbread in any form! Fun idea using golden syrup instead of molassdes — genius! Thanks. And Happy Holidays!
Thank you John 😀
I love me some gingerbread – both with or without the molasses!! The spices are my favorite part! This looks delicious! Happy holidays Emma!
Thank you Ashley 😀
This is such a delicious gingerbread sponge recipe Emma. The little gingerbread man decoration is so cute and that frosting looks so decadent. Absolutely gorgeous 🙂
Thank you Ashika, I do love those sprinkles 😀
I love any ginger laden dessert and this gingerbread looks divine!! I wouldn’t miss the molasses one bit!!!
Thank you Liz 😀
not a huge fan of molasses plain, but gingerbread is so tasty that i don’t mind it baked into that (: love this substitution idea though! and though i don’t see golden syrup in california much, amazon makes life so easy that it wouldn’t be too much trouble to snag a bottle of it.
Bless Amazon, it has bailed me out a lot with American ingredients that I need for some bakes and cakes 😀
A great idea of using golden syrup as the replacement of molasses. They look festive and yummy with buttercream!
Thank you Angie 😀