Bring Gingerbread to the Party #Christmas #cake

Bring Gingerbread to the Party

No holiday receiver is sound without a routine cover and my Gingerbread Sheet Cover with Cranberry Fig Fill and Colourless Brown Buttercream is fitting the block for it! Decorated with gingerbread houses, effervescent edulcorate to await equal hoodwink and snow-tipped trees, fill instrument ooh and ahh over the cover and say it is only too pretty to eat-which it nigh is.

But you staleness eat it! Moist and not-too-sweet gingerbread stratum cover is filled with confectionery, tart cranberry fig and frosted with a creamy caucasian beverage buttercream. The whiteness chocolate in the buttercream adds a change of taste to residue out the sourness of the filling and spicy burn of the gingerbread.

The gingerbread houses are a fun whimsical proffer to the dish. You can use all the pieces of the houses to make refuge "fronts" to go around the cake. Puddle reliable to economize a few to accomplish into houses: one for the top of the cover and a few many for your holiday array. You can smooth tally a gingerbread decorating organisation before you get the bar.

I was leaving to micturate the gingerbread teach to go around the lowermost bed of the bar, but when I saw how huge the pieces were to the check, it was going to be large than the effective cover! On endorsement cerebration, the condition would be ameliorate for a representation tack on your course table or chimneypiece this spend flavour. The houses are perfect for the cover, and I victimized back and roof pieces for domiciliate fronts and steady a few garages. The sky is the confine with decorating these houses!

INGREDIENTS
 For the 8" Cake:

•  3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
•  4 tsp ground ginger
•  3 tsp ground cinnamon
•  1/2tsp ground nutmeg
•  1/2tsp ground allspice
•  1/4tsp ground cloves
•  1 tbsp baking powder
•  1 tsp salt
•  1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
•  1 cup molasses, not blackstrap
•  1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
•  3 large eggs, room temperature
•  2 tsp vanilla extract
•  1 cup Ninkasi Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, room temperature

For the 6” Cake:

• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Ground Allspice
• 1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 c Unsalted butter
• 2/3 c Molasses
• 3/4 C Dark brown sugar
• 2 Large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/3 plus 2 Tbsp Ninkasi Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, room temperature

For the Filling:

• 1 1/2 C Colonial Cranberry Sauce
• 1 1/2 C Dalmatia Fig Spread

For the Frosting:

• 3 C Unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs Powdered sugar
• 8 oz white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• white food coloring

For the gingerbread houses:

• 2 Gingerbread House Kits
• Gingerbread Train Kit (optional)

Instructions:

1. For both the 8” and 6” cakes: Make the cakes separately. 8” first then the 6”. Do not combine both recipes to make all at once.
2. Prepare the cake pans. Lightly grease with butter then place parchment circles on top. Then, butter and flour the parchment circles. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Mix the flour, spices, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk well to combine.
4. In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar and molasses and mix until creamy. Add in the eggs one at a time, then add in the vanilla and stout. Add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Divide evenly amongst the pans. Bake the 8-inch pans for 22-26 minuted to until the center bounces back when pressed lightly. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then run a spatula around the edges and invert onto a wire cooling rack.
5. Bake the 6-inch cakes 30-35 minutes. Cool as you would the 8-inch cakes.
6. While the cakes are cooling, make the filling and the buttercream.
7. In a small bowl, combine the filling ingredients, keep chilled until ready to use.

To make the buttercream:

1. Cream the butter on medium speed and add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating on high for about 30 seconds after each addition. Once half of the sugar is added, slowly add in the white chocolate, vanilla and salt. Continue adding in sugar until you have reached desired sweetness and thickness. Add in white food coloring until the buttercream is white. Keep covered at room temperature until ready to use.
2. Assemble the cakes: (Same instructions for both 8” and 6” cakes)
3. Trim the tops of the cakes to even out. Place one cake layer on a cardboard cake circle onto a cake plate, trimmed side up. Brush with some simple syrup. Spread a thin layer of buttercream then pipe buttercream around the edges to form a lip so the filling doesn’t ooze out. Spoon some of the filling evenly. Top with another layer and repeat. Place the third layer cut side down so the smooth bottom is facing up. Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream then chill until firm. Once the crumb coat is firm, place the cake on a baking sheet and frost with a thicker layer of buttercream. smoothing out the sides and top. Then press sugar sprinkles onto the sides and top. Either with your hands or with a small spatula gently bringing the sprinkles up from the bottom of the sides to the top. Let chill to firm up before adding the gingerbread houses to the side.
4. To decorate the gingerbread houses, use the fronts, back and sides of the houses to create house fronts. Use the royal icing included in the gingerbread house kit or make your own (recipe below). I find the royal icing included in the kits tends to be best for gluing the sides together to make a house, not as good for dying and decorating.
5. Dye 1 cup of the icing red, another green and another white. Decorate as you wish, adding in sprinkles, holiday decors such as candy canes, snowflakes, etc. Let dry fully before adding to the cake. Make one full house for the top of the cake. Decorate all the sides and roof before gluing together.

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