Gingerbread Cake With Caramel Biscuit Icing Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in molasses and egg until well blended. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with water., Transfer to a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack., For caramel sauce, in a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in butter and vanilla until smooth. Serve with warm cake. Top with whipped cream if desired.

Steps:

• Lightly butter a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, molasses, and crystallized ginger. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.
• In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Whisk the molasses mixture into the flour mixture until evenly combined.
• In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda. Whisk the hot water into the batter until just combined. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake in the center of the oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack. Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each with a parchment round.
• Stir together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
• Combine the brown sugar and butter in another large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined (it's fine if the mixture looks a little curdled).
• Stir the molasses into the boiling water in a large spouted measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the molasses mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, increase the speed to medium and beat just until smooth.
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 22 to 27 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans on a wire rack. Once cool, invert the cakes onto the rack, then peel off and discard the parchment.
• For the frosting: Combine the butter and cream cheese in a clean mixer bowl. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the confectioner's' sugar, beating until combined. Add the vanilla and gradually increase the speed to high. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, adding up to 1 tablespoon of milk if needed so the frosting is spreadable.
• Place one cake layer flat-side down on a cake stand or platter. Top with about 3/4 cup of the frosting, spreading almost to the edges using an offset spatula. Place the remaining cake layer on top, flat-side up. Spread the remaining frosting on the entire cake and smooth the top and sides with the offset spatula. Refrigerate the cake while you decorate the gingerbread cookies.
• For the decorations: Meanwhile, microwave the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl until just melted. (Alternatively, melt the chips in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; do not let bowl touch the water.) Let cool slightly and put into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip (or use a plastic ziptop bag with the corner snipped off). Pipe eyes and smiles on the gingerbread cookie faces.
• Arrange the merry gingerbread men side by side around the bottom edge of the cake, pressing in slightly to adhere. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the nonpareils.

Steps:

• Measure the milk and treacle into a saucepan (grease the measuring spoon with a little oil first and the treacle will easily slide off). Bring to a gentle simmer and stir until combined, then set aside to cool. Meanwhile, grease 3 x 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins with a little oil and line the bases with baking parchment (if you don't have enough cake tins, see tip). If the tins are any shallower than 4cm, line the sides with a deep collar too. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
• Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and spices into a large bowl, then add ½ tsp fine salt. Mix the dry ingredients together with a large whisk; if there are any large lumps of sugar, squeeze these through your fingers until you have an even, sandy-textured mixture.
• In a jug, whisk the oil, buttermilk, eggs, rum and vanilla. Add the milk and treacle mixture, and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and whisk into a smooth batter. Divide between the tins and bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. You may have to swap the cakes over to cook evenly, but don't do this until they've had at least 20 mins cooking. Cool the cakes in their tins for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack, peel off the parchment and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, you can wrap the sponges in cling film and store in a cool place for 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months - the texture and flavour will be all the better for it.
• To make the icing, put the butter and half the icing sugar in a large bowl. Mash together roughly with a spatula, then whizz with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar, the cream cheese, vanilla bean extract and biscuit spread. Mix again until smooth and evenly mixed. Transfer half the icing to another bowl and set aside. Use the remaining icing to stack the cakes and cover the entire outside in a thin layer - don't worry about making the cake look too neat at this stage, as any crumbs trapped in the icing will be covered in the final coat. Chill the cake for 30 mins and the remaining icing for 20 mins (remove the icing from the fridge 10 mins before the cake to soften a little).
• When the icing on the cake is firm, remove it from the fridge and use the remaining icing to cover the cake. Smooth the sides using a palette knife, but leave peaks and dips on top for your snow scene. Top the cake generously with desiccated coconut, a dusting of sieved icing sugar and some edible glitter, if you like, then decorate the top and sides with gingerbread shapes (see tip). If you're not eating the cake within a few hours, store it in the fridge, but bring back to room temperature before serving. Wlll keep for 2 days.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Butter and line a 23cm round cake tin. Put the butter, sugar, treacle and syrup in a large pan and gently heat, stirring until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 mins.
• Stir in the eggs and milk, then sift in the flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well, then pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 50 mins-1 hr until the cake is firm to the touch and springs back when pressed in the centre. Cool in the tin for 15 mins, then turn out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack.
• Put the frosting ingredients in a small pan over a medium heat and stir until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Increase the heat and boil hard for 3-4 mins, stirring occasionally; at this stage the frosting should look like runny custard. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool for 30 mins. Beat with an electric whisk until thick and spreadable. Spread over the cooled cake and decorate with crystallised ginger.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 9-inch square pan. In medium bowl, mix 3/4 cup of the yogurt and the caramel topping; cover and refrigerate until serving time.
• In large bowl, beat remaining 1 1/4 cups yogurt and all remaining ingredients except apple and lemon juice with electric mixer on low speed 45 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl occasionally, until well blended. Stir in half of the chopped apple. Pour batter into pan. Sprinkle lemon juice over remaining apple; cover and refrigerate until serving time.
• Bake 38 to 43 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool slightly. Serve with topping mixture and remaining chopped apple.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Line 10 muffin cups with paper liners., Whisk together first nine ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together egg, milk, oil, molasses and extracts. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened., Fill prepared cups two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 15-18 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks; cool completely., For frosting, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, extract and enough milk to reach desired consistency. Spread over cupcakes. Drizzle with caramel syrup before serving.