Piparkökukaka

Gingerbread cake

For the Christmas breakfast last week with my colleagues I baked a gingerbread cake - for a Christmas touch. Simply mix the spices that I would otherwise put into the gingerbread dough into the cake dough, it smells wonderful and thanks to the baking powder and baking soda it also becomes wonderfully fluffy.

And since there are no nuts in the dough, colleagues who have a nut allergy and can never eat gingerbread were also able to eat, because there are nuts in everything.

Actually, a cream cheese glaze was supposed to be used, but since I had to transport the cake in the car and couldn't keep it cool all the time, I preferred to make a simple powdered sugar glaze, which also goes very well with gingerbread!

Ingredients for the dough

350 g flour

350 g brown sugar

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground vanilla

2 tsp ground orange peel

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

200 g butter

3 eggs

3 Tbsp orange juice

200 ml milk

2 Tbsp rock candy

Ingredients for the glaze

300 g powdered sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of ground vanilla

approx. 40 ml lukewarm water

optionally, gingerbread for decoration

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Then add the butter and knead into crumbles.

Add the eggs in portions and mix.

Then add the orange juice and whole milk and mix everything at low speed to form a smooth dough.

Finally, stir 3 tablespoons of rock sugar into the dough, which adds a certain “crunch” to the finished baked dough.

Then divide the dough into three small molds (approx. 20 cm in diameter)...

...and bake at 180° top and bottom heat for approx. 25 - 30 minutes (test with a chopstick!)

Allow the cake layers to cool in the tin.

For the cream, mix the powdered sugar with the salt and the ground vanilla, then add the warm water and mix everything thoroughly until a thick mixture is formed.

Carefully remove the first layer from the mold, place it on a suitable cake plate and spread it with a little cream.

Then place the second layer on top, spread it again with a little cream and finally place the third layer on top. Spread with the remaining cream and decorate to taste, e.g. with gingerbread cookies, small icing gingerbread men, etc

Allow the icing to set and then serve the cake. I think the cake tastes even better the second day if it's well cooked!

PS:

For the alternative cream cheese icing, take 400 g cream cheese, 250 g mascarpone, 200 g powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of orange juice, mix everything together and then cover the cake with it in layers. I'm sure it tastes really good too, I'll try it next time!

[Translated from here.]