Can I Use A Lactose-Free Substitute For Sour Cream In The Guinness Gingerbread?

Our answer

Nigella's Guinness Gingerbread (from FEAST) is a moist and sticky gingerbread that includes Guinness and sour cream. If you are in the US then there are a few brands of plant-based sour creams available and these should work as substitutes in the recipe.

If you are in the UK then it is more difficult to find a plant-based sour cream, but you can get an oat milk based creme fraiche that would be a good alternative, You can also buy lactose-free cream in many supermarkets and you could use this and add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for each 250ml of lactose-free cream. Alternatively, you could use a plant-based or lactose-free plain or natural yogurt. Coconut-milk yogurt is higher in fat than most yogurts, so would be a good alternative but if you use a low fat plant-based yogurt (such as a soy milk version) then replace 2 tablespoons of the yogurt with 2 tablespoons of a flavourless vegetable oil. However, please note that as we have not tried the Guinness Gingerbread with any of these alternatives, we are unable to guarantee the results. You may also like to try Nigella's Luscious Vegan Gingerbread as this uses oat milk rather than cow milk.