Moist, fluffy, flavorful paleo gingerbread loaf with an easy coconut glaze – a cozy, comforting quickbread recipe perfect for sharing with guests during holiday season.
This is the story of how my culinary nemesis became my culinary triumph.
Let’s back up. I first tried making this grain-free gingerbread last year after driving around looking at Christmas lights with one of my friends a couple of weeks before Christmas.
Having woken up at 4:23 in the morning, hot to trot and ready to bake all the holiday quick breads after the twinkle-light extravaganza, I thought I’d give myself an extra challenge by making the loaf grain-free, and also vegan.
While the loaf tasted amazing, it sank down deep into a Grand Canyon-like crevasse in the middle as soon as it came out of the oven.
Whomp whomp.
I blamed the fog in the harbor due to the early waking hour and tried again. After another attempt, I still wasn’t getting it.
About to throw in the towel, I decided to give it another whirl with eggs for a still paleo, but un-vegan loaf. Closer, yet still not perfect.
Several bottles of molasses and four failed attempts later, the holiday came and went and I was plumb over gingerbread.
I back-burnered the project for the rest of the winter, spring, summer and a good portion of the fall…until I recently found myself craving – you guessed it – gingerbread.
Funny how sometimes all you need is to put a project on the sideline for a hot minute (or ten months), then revisit it when you’re good and ready.
My first attempt back at the bread resulted in a resounding win. Nailed it.
It turned out so well, in fact, that I daresay I conquered the Paleo Gingerbread beast!
Moist, sweet but not too sweet, and somehow light and dense at the same time. It’s what every quick bread aspires to be.
Don’t let all my trials and errors fool you into thinking this bread is difficult to bake. It’s actually super easy!
I made an easy glaze using coconut milk while the bread was baking. Adding a little lemon zest to the glaze resulted in a cream cheese-like flavor, which – by my calculations – equals heaven.
My attempt at being fancy was sprinkling some candied ginger on top. Then, I proceeded to ravage approximately a third of the loaf.
For lunch. In broad daylight. No witnesses.
This Paleo Gingerbread Loaf is made with almond flour, coconut flour and tapioca flour.
Naturally sweetened with blackstrap molasses and pure maple syrup, and warmly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, this loaf is full of holiday flavor while still being completely healthful – as in healthy enough to eat for breakfast.
The way I see it, this loaf is the perfect post-holiday meal treat.
It’s 200% healthy, decadent enough to serve as dessert, and the best part is that your guests will be thanking you for a tasty treat that won’t put them in a gluten, dairy or sugar coma.
If you love quickbread recipes, you may also enjoy my Paleo Morning Glory Quickbread.
Also check out my Paleo Gingerbread Pancakes, Paleo Gingerbread Muffins, and my Chocolate Dipped Molasses Cookies for more gingerbread goodness.
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Paleo Gingerbread Loaf
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup unsulphered molasses
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 6 Tbsp avocado oil or melted coconut oil
- 1½ Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and grated
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1 2/3 cups almond flour
- 3 Tbsp tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Zesty Coconut Milk Glaze:
- ¾ cup full-fat canned coconut milk*
- ¼ tsp lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- Pinch sea salt
- 2 Tbsp candied ginger chopped, optional
Instructions
- Prepare the glaze. Add all the ingredients for the glaze, except for the candied ginger, to a small saucepan. Bring to a full boil, reduce the heat to a gentle boil and cook until thick, whisking frequently, about 10-15 minutes. Pour the glaze into a bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours. The glaze will thicken more in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F and lightly oil a 9” x 5” loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the first six ingredients (eggs through ginger) until combined. In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining (dry) ingredients (coconut flour through nutmeg). Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until combined. (Note: you can also add all the ingredients for the bread to a blender and blend until smooth).
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth evenly. Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the loaf is brown around the edges and tests clean when poked in the center with a toothpick.
- Allow the bread to cool at least 30 minutes before turning it out onto a cutting board. Drizzle with the glaze and sprinkle with chopped candied ginger. Slice thick slices using a sharp knife and serve.
Girl! Looks like you finally “nailed it”! Love the extra ginger on top. I find sometimes gingerbread isn’t gingery enough for me. I like it spicy! Looks like you upped the ante here and I’m so down with that!
STOP IT. I’m coming over right now. But first … I need a private jet to get me there! LOVE this gingerbread loaf!
I love the recipe but hate when I print it to have 2 pages because of the ad. Can’t you reduce it to one page for those who need to print recipes. Thanks
Hi Sheila, I have an email in to my ad network to see what they can do about eliminating the ad when someone goes to print a recipe. My apologies for the inconvenience!
haha that happened to me last winter with banana bread – I couldn’t get it right and then gave up for later since I got SOO sick of it!
This gingerbread loaf looks amazing! I love that you topped it with the candied ginger!
OBSESSED with the candied ginger on top- this looks delish!
Hot diggety, this gingery coconutty loaf looks amazing! So glad you kept at it because this recipe sounds fantastic.
I was excited to find a grain free VEGAN gingerbread recipe. Then I actually read the recipe, it’s certainly NOT VEGAN with four eggs in it! I might try it with a flaxseed and water egg replacement.
I agree with Sheila, it would be nice to be able to print your recipes on one page without huge blank spaces and ads.
Hi JoAnne, as I mentioned in the post, I was unsuccessful with a vegan version of this bread, but definitely let me know if you’re able to get it to work out with flax “eggs.” My apologies for the hassle in printing the recipe – Making my recipes approachable is a huge priority of mine. I’ll let my ad network know that the ad in the recipe card causes issues when it comes to printing.
This gingerbreadybliss bread free of all the grainies…omg. I just can’t believe you ONLY ate a third of the loaf in one sitting. #LOAFCRUSH
Is it 1 and 2/3 of a cup of almond flour or 2/3 – 1 cup? I am confused but seems I am the only one haha…I think the “-“ has thrown me…
i’m confused by this, too!
To answer the question above it is 1 and 2/3 cup almond flour. I made this today and it was excellent!!! I will keep this as my go to gingerbread recipe. Great texture!! Great flavor! Glad you didn’t give up on this one! Thanks for an amazing recipe!!
I made this today, its still cooling.. So simple. Im not sure if i got the glaze right. it looks like its going to harden in the fridge before it gets drizzly. looks too watery.
I made this bread last night and it is delicious! You really perfected the recipe! It tastes perfectly like gingerbread and it has a great texture! My husband and I couldn’t stop eating it! The glaze didn’t thicken up for me, so I guess I’ll just have to make it again! I like the flavor of the glaze it just never got thick enough to spread on the bread. I may have to try adding some arrowroot or use coconut butter mixed with maple and lemon zest to get the glaze consistency that I want. Looks like I’ve found the perfect loaf for giving out to the neighbors this year for the holidays. Thank you!
Okay I LOVE this recipe however I mixed mine together in the vitamix and it was very thick and hard to blend, how to get out. Could I do it in a bowl with an electric handmixer? Would totally make this again. YUM
Would be great to get nutritional info carbs etc!
Also just curious why coconut and almond flour? How would the recipe be with just almond flour?
Hi Katie,
The coconut flour thickens the batter up quite a bit. You could do almond flour only, but you’d need to use about 4 times the amount.
I would love to make this ginger loaf….can you tell me the weight in grams for the flours? I find my recipes flop when I just go by cups 🙁 My daughter has an insane love of gingerbread and this one sounds like just the ticket. Thank you!
Hi Dale! I’m so sorry that I haven’t weighed the ingredients for the recipe yet. I can update the recipe once I make the loaf again in the future, but that may take some time. My apologies for the inconvenience!
YUM! Just had my first slice, the bread is perfect – never happens on the first try, I’ll credit the great recipe 🙂 I’m not sure I got the glaze right though, it’s not very thick. Will definitely be making this bread again, probably this weekend!
Hi Steph! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe! When I make the glaze, it’s relatively thin too. You can thicken it by heating it up on the stove top and boiling it until it reaches a thicker consistency if you’d like! As an alternative, if you do regular cane sugar, you can make a powder sugar glaze by mixing 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of water. Thanks so much for the sweet note! xo