Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Icing

This might just be the most Christmasy thing I have ever made. Ginger is without a doubt the poster spice for the festive season and so ginger cake topped with a ginger bread house, little trees and a good dusting of icing sugar is pretty much an edible version of Lapland. This was really fun to make but it wasn’t without it’s faults. For example, I learnt things like:

1. Sometimes gingerbread can be too thick.
2. Don’t pipe icing that’s too runny onto a sloped surface. As much as you tell yourself it will succumb to the laws of gravity and drip sadly off the sides of your house, forming a pool of sugar tears next to it.
3. Even if your cakes are completely cool make sure your kitchen isn’t too hot when icing your cake. Those of you following my Instagram may have seen the effects of heat + cream cheese frosting with the image of my cake ‘rustically deconstructed’ across my kitchen table, where it slid whilst I was washing up.

So yeah, this didn’t go entirely to plan, but it still tasted amazing and I managed to get a few decent photos before it self deconstructed! As with all big cakes this can feed an army so it’s perfect for any Christmas parties or celebrations coming up.

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

For the cake

• 150g Butter
• 300g Self raising flour
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 4 tsp Ground ginger
• 2 tsp Ground mixed spice
• 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 150g Muscovado sugar
• 280g Golden syrup
• 300ml Whole milk
• 1 Large egg

For the gingerbread house

• 175g Dark muscovado sugar
• 85g Golden syrup
• 100g Butter
• 350g Plain flour
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp Ground ginger
• 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 200g Icing sugar

For the icing

• 150g Cream cheese
• 300ml Double cream
• 3 tbsp Icing sugar
• 1 tbsp Stem ginger syrup (optional)

For the decoration

• 4 tbsp Lemon curd
• 2 tbsp Caramel
• A large pinch of Sea salt
• Icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line 3, 20cm round tins with butter and baking paper.
2. Put the flour, bicarb, ginger and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers until there are no lumps.
3. Put the sugar, golden syrup and milk into a pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Bring the mixture just up to the boil.
4. Pour the warm mixture into the dry mixture and whisk together. Add the egg and then mix in. The mixture should resemble a thick pancake batter.
5. Pour the mixture into the three lined tins (about 400g into each tin) and then bake in the oven for 50 minutes – 1 hour until baked all the way through. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Leave to cool until needed.
6. Now make the ginger bread house. Put the sugar, syrup and butter into a pan. Bring to a gentle simmer whilst stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to bubble for 1-2 minutes and then leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
7. Put the flour, bicarb and spices into a bowl. Add the egg, syrup mixture and stir together to form a soft dough.
8. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
9. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out between two sheets of clingfilm. You want it to be about half the thickness of a £1 coin. Using the templates (below) cut out the pieces of the house you need.
10. Place the pieces onto a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until starting to slightly brown at the edges. Leave to cool before icing.
11. Mix the icing sugar and 2 tbsp water in a small bowl and then transfer it into a piping bag with a small round nozzle.
12. Pipe icing around the edge of your gingerbread pieces. Then join the four sides of the house together. Add the roof to the house and then decorate each panel how you want. Leave the house at room temperature for a couple of hours so that the icing has time to set.
13. Now make the filling. Put the cream cheese, cream, icing sugar, and ginger syrup (if using) into a big bowl and whisk together until it starts to hold its shape and is smooth. Then spoon the mixture into a piping with a large round nozzle. Keep chilled until needed.
14. When the cakes have cooled completely and your house is ready you can start assembling. Place one of the cakes on a plate or board. Spread over ½ the lemon curd and then pipe blobs of the icing over the sponge. Then drizzle 1/3 of the caramel over the icing.
15. Place another sponge on top and repeat with the icing and caramel. Then finish by putting the last sponge on top.
16. Pipe the rest of the icing in blobs over the top of the cake. Spoon the rest of the caramel over the icing, letting it drip over the edge.
17. Top with the mini ginger bread house, any Christmas decorations you like and a sprinkling of icing sugar!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Gingerbread House Template: