Gingerbread Topped Christmas Cake #Christmas #Cake

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You’ve likely all adorned your Christmas desserts (when you have one) already, what with it being Christmas eve eve nowadays (already! How?!); however at the off hazard which you haven’t yet gotten round to it, I concept i might proportion how I’ve selected to beautify mine this 12 months.

I’ve been so busy currently that I almost didn’t get round to adorning my cake at all, so I opted to move for some thing quite short and easy that I could get finished once I had a spare minute.

I had already baked and decorated a batch of gingerbread stars and snowflakes so certainly piled a few on top of a cake that I had covered in marzipan and royal icing. The end result is easy however effective, and a super option for the time-bad.

The gingerbread recipe can glaringly be used to simply make gingerbread biscuits without the want to position them on top of a cake, and really satisfactory gingerbread biscuits they're too (I ought to know, I’ve eaten sufficient of them).

they may be easy to make, perfectly spiced, and odor remarkable even as they are baking. You do want a consistent hand for the piping, but even supposing does turn out a chunk wibbly (mine sincerely is), it nevertheless looks correct and is quite easy to do.

Gingerbread Topped Christmas Cake

Ingredients

Gingerbread:

100 g (3.5oz) butter cubed
80 g (1/3 + 1/8 cup) light brown soft sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp treacle
1 tbsp water
finely grated zest of 1 orange
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
240 g (2 cups) plain flour
2 tsp gorund cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Royal Icing For Gingerbread
235 g (2 + 1/3 cups) icing (powdered) sugar sifted
2 tsp lemon juice
1 large egg white
edible glitter (optional)

To Cover Cake:

1 kg (2.2lb) marzipan
675 g (6 + 3/4 cups) icing (powdered) sugar sifted
3 large egg whites
3 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp glycerine (optional)
3 tbsp apricot jam

Instructions

Gingerbread:

Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup, treacle, water and orange zest in a pan and warmth gently at the same time as stirring till it's far melted and clean.
Remove the pan from the heat and beat within the spices and bicarbonate of soda, accompanied via the flour. blend till it bureaucracy a easy dough then cowl the pan and vicinity in the refrigerator for approximately an hour, till the dough is company.
Preheat the oven to a hundred and eighty°C/350°F/fuel mark four and line two baking trays with baking parchment. carry the dough together into a ball and roll out on a gently floured floor to about 3mm (1/eight) inch thick.
Cut out shapes using cookie cutters and location them slightly spaced aside on the baking trays. Re-roll the scraps to cut out extra shapes.
Vicinity the trays in the freezer for 15 mins till company then bake for 10-15 minutes until the biscuits feel company when gently pressed and have started to darken a touch round the edges. The smaller ones will cook dinner quicker than huge ones so try to group comparable sized ones collectively at the trays.
Leave to chill on the trays for 5 mins then transfer onto a twine rack to chill absolutely.
Once the biscuits are cool, make the royal icing. Sift the powdered sugar right into a bowl and add the lemon juice. Stir inside the egg white a bit at a time until the icing is easy and thick however pipe-capable; in case you drizzle a few lower back into the bowl the sample must disappear after about 8 seconds. If it is too thick then add a bit extra egg white (or lemon juice in case you've run out), and if it's miles too runny then upload a bit extra sifted powdered sugar.
Spoon the icing right into a piping bag equipped with a 1mm undeniable round nozzle. Pipe snowflake designs onto the biscuits (Pinterest is a wonderful location to get proposal for styles!) and set them aside for half of an hour to dry. Sprinkle with safe to eat glitter if the use of.

To Ice The Cake:

Trim the pinnacle of the cake if it's far domed and location it upside-down on a cake board or serving platter in order that the flat backside is now the top. dust a worksurface with icing sugar and roll a piece of the marzipan right into a period of rope. Press the rope into the distance among the bottom of the cake and the board so that it's far flat all the manner round.
Trim off any extra marzipan and add it again to the rest, form into a ball after which roll out to a massive circle, large sufficient to entirely cover the cake.
Lightly heat the apricot jam till it is runny then brush it all around the cake. cautiously elevate the marzipan circle over the cake and press it down the edges so that the cake is completely included. you may probable get some folds and creases, just trim off the extra marzipan and clean the edges together, it would not need to be ideal. Trim off the extra marzipan from round the lowest of the cake.
When you have time, permit the cake to dry out for more than one days before icing to save you any oils from the marzipan seeping into the icing. If not then you may pass right ahead and ice it.
Vicinity the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk till frothy. add the icing sugar a touch at a time and fold in. Stir in the lemon juice and glycerine if the usage of (the glycerine prevents the icing from putting tooth-breakingly difficult).
Beat the icing with an electric powered mixer until it is very stiff and white and paperwork stiff peaks.
Use a palette knife to spread the icing all over the cake, there's no need to get it too smooth.
Set up a pile of gingerbread stars on pinnacle of the cake and upload a couple of small ones around the aspects. Sprinkle with fit to be eaten glitter and set apart for more than one hours to company up. save in an hermetic field.