Healthy High Protein Gingerbread Cake (Oil Free, Sugar Free)

The perfect healthy High Protein Gingerbread Cake topped with a Protein Powder Greek Yogurt Frosting; A sugar free gingerbread cake recipe made with whole wheat flour, unflavored protein powder and no oil. A great healthy ginger dessert for snacking too.

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I’ve done a bunch of these protein powder desserts – especially cakes – recently, but I’m still now sure how many people coming here are here for the protein or just the healthy aspect. 

Put a poll on my Instagram stories for a protein vs regular, and it was without a doubt the most useless poll ever! A split 50-50.

So since neither of us could decide what to go for, I made an adaptable ginger cake recipe where an unflavored protein powder replaces some of the flour; As opposed to one with vanilla protein powder replacing sugar.

Now all that’s needed for a regular ginger spice cake is switching that protein powder back to flour!

I still went for a vanilla protein frosting though because no way am I putting that sugar in.

Healthy High Protein Gingerbread Cake Ingredients

• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour which is what makes this a healthy ginger cake. You can replace it with all purpose flour if you like
• Unflavored (Whey) Protein Powder to replace some of the flour in the original recipe, drop the carbs, and make this a high protein gingerbread cake!
  I use Quest Nutrition’s Multi-purpose Mix.
  You could switch it out for more of the flour, but also reduce the liquid in this case.
• Unsweetened Applesauce to add moisture to the cake, so there’s no oil and no butter needed in this recipe.
  Alternatively, use mashed banana!
• Maple Syrup – I recommend a monk fruit syrup like Lakanto for a healthy and sugar free gingerbread cake with no sugar! (code HAYLSKITCHEN gets you a discount)
• Some of the homemade sugar-free Molasses
• Warm Water; No milk or buttermilk needed; This is to make the cake resemble the classic hot water gingerbread cake for the holidays.
• Gingerbread Spice which is just a blend of Ground ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Cloves
• Eggs
• Pure Vanilla Extract 
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda
• A bit of salt

How to make homemade Sugar free Molasses for Healthy Gingerbread Cake

To make the sugar-free molasses, I used a 1:1 golden sugar substitute from Lakanto and used it for the recipe from Bigger Bolder Baking.

How to make Protein Gingerbread Cake with Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

This homemade gingerbread snacking cake is super easy recipe and is great for as a Christmas cake for dessert too!

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line an 8 x 8” baking pan with parchment paper

2. Mix the dry ingredients for the cake in a bowl – whole wheat pastry flour, unflavored protein powder, gingerbread spice (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves), baking powder, baking soda and salt

3. Whisk the wet ingredients (except water) in a large bowl: Applesauce, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla

4. Now add in the water and whisk again

5. Add the flour mixture to the wet mix and fold together. DO NOT OVER-MIX the batter or the cake will be too dense at the bottom.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. A tester inserted into the center should come out completely dry – no crumbs or batter. Touch the top of the cake, and it should be dry and springy to touch.

This recipe makes an 8 x 8 inch gingerbread cake, so if you want a 9 x 13, double the recipe and bake for about 35 minutes.

For a Layered Ginger Cake

Double the recipe and use 2 9” cake pans; You also want to triple the recipe for the frosting; This is so that you have enough for the sides of the cake too.

To make a Healthy Gingerbread Loaf Cake

Pour the batter into a parchment lined loaf pan and bake for about 50-55 minutes. A tester inserted should come out dry here too.
I would recommend covering the cake with a foil tent halfway through baking.

Greek Yogurt Protein Powder Frosting for Protein Ginger Cake

For a completely healthy ginger dessert, I topped this protein cake with a high protein frosting too – no cream cheese or sugar needed.

All you need for the frosting is greek yogurt and vanilla protein powder; I used Quest Nutrition’s Vanilla Milkshake flavor.

Add some sweetener if your protein powder isn’t sweet enough; I would recommend stevia or monk-fruit based sweetener for a sugar-free recipe.

For a dairy free option, use Coconut yogurt and a plant based protein powder.

To make Cake Frosting with Protein Powder:

A very easy frosting recipe here since there’s no hand mixer, whisk or beater needed.

Just combine the yogurt and vanilla protein powder in a bowl and stir them together.

Tips for Healthy Ginger Cake with Greek Yogurt Frosting

• Use Whole Wheat Pastry Flour not Whole Wheat Flour:
  This is important because plain whole wheat flour is much rougher than the pastry flour, so your cake will also be more dense. The best substitute for this is all purpose flour, or a 1:1 mix of all purpose and whole wheat.

• Reduce the water when replacing protein powder with flour:
  We add extra water in since the whey protein powder in this cake recipe is quite absorbent. So if you use flour instead of the protein powder, be sure to reduce the water  by 1-2 tablespoons.
  Too much moisture can make the cake dense at the bottom.

• Don’t over-mix the batter!
  Make sure you gently fold the dry mix into the wet to combine them.
  If you over-mix it, the protein powder and gluten from whole wheat flour will make it tough, dense and gummy.

Why did your Ginger Cake not Rise?

The biggest reason behind this would be the wrong amount of baking powder and baking soda.

Why is your Gingerbread Spice Cake Dense?

There are a couple of reasons possible here:

• You used whole wheat flour for the recipe instead of whole wheat pastry flour
• Too much liquid in the batter – this will make the cake rise and then sink, making it dense
• Over-mixing the batter

How do you store Gingerbread Cake?

If you spread the frosting already, you can keep the protein powder ginger cake out at room temperature for a few hours. The unfrosted cake will stay good for even 2 days unfrosted; Use an airtight container in both cases.

Another option is to store the cake in the fridge for about 4 or 5 days so you have a real prep dessert or snack for the week.

To freeze the ginger snack bars, slice the cake, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and place them in a freezer-safe zipper bag. The unsliced whole cake is freezer friendly too.

More high protein cake recipes with Quest Protein Powder:

• Protein Pumpkin Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting
• Protein Banana Cake with Vanilla Protein Frosting
• Healthy Carrot Cake with Protein Powder Frosting
• Protein Apple Cupcakes with Protein Peanut Butter Frosting