It’s been a long time since I’ve actually, really baked, but it’s not always easy with a full-time job and a 1.5-year-old in the house. But with a freezer and a bit of planning ahead, it can be successful, especially when you are lucky enough to have a few days off.
So it turned into a real Christmas cake, with a gingerbread base and flavours of orange, nuts and chocolate.
CHRISTMAS CAKE WITH ORANGE, NUTS AND CHOCOLATE
10-12 SERVINGS
GINGERBREAD BASE:
1 EGG
25 G MOLASSES SUGAR
50 G HONEY
THE JUICE OF 1/4 ORANGE
50 G FLOUR
1/2 TSP BAKING POWDER
1/2 TSP GROUND GINGER
1/2 TSP GROUND CINNAMON
1/4 TSP GROUND CLOVES
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees celsius.
Melt honey together with orange juice and let it cool a little until it’s finger warm.
Whisk the egg and molasses sugar to a thick and airy eggnog, about 5 minutes
Add the cooled honey to the egg mixture a little at a time and continue to whisk for 1 minute.
Sift the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and cloves into the mixture or carefully fold it in with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter into a 16 cm greased spring mould lined with baking paper.
Turn the oven heat down to 200 degrees celsius and bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 15 min, until it is firm but still springs back, when you press down gently with a finger.
If the cake has a small dome on top, place a piece of paper towel over it while it is still warm and press down lightly with a potholder and the flat of your hand to flatten it. Let the cake cool completely.
Place cake plastic around the cake in the mould.
HAZELNUT CROQUANT:
25 G HAZELNUTS
25 G SUGAR
Roast the hazelnuts and scrape off the skin
Melt the sugar in a pan and stir the nuts around until they are well coated. Pour them out onto a sheet of baking paper and separate the nuts slightly. When they have cooled completely, chop them coarsely.
Spread the croquant over the gingerbread base.
CHOCOLATE CREAM PUFF WREATH:
300 G CALLEBAUT GOLD
Temper the chocolate and spread it out into a silicone ring with bubbles, e.g. By Ditte Julie. (You can dust the ring with edible gold dust to make it shine)
Turn the base upside down and gently shake as much chocolate out of the mould as possible to make the shell as thin as possible.
Place the mould in the fridge, until it’s time to fill it up.
ORANGE MARSHMALLOW:
100 G SUGAR
50 G GLUCOSE SYRUP
60 G ORANGE JUICE
BEANS OF 1/2 VANILLA POD
80 G PASTEURIZED EGG WHITES
2 TBSP. SUGAR
Add sugar, glucose syrup, orange juice and vanilla beans to a thick bottomed pot, keep a sugar/digital thermometer by the side.
Stir the ingredients together until the sugar has melted. The temperature now has to reach exactly 117 degrees celsius.
Meanwhile, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks, then add sugar and continue whipping until the meringue is shiny.
When the syrup is ready, pour it into the egg whites in a thin stream, while continuously whisking at a middle speed.
Then turn the speed up to maximum and whisk for another 8-10 min.
Put the marshmallow mixture into a piping bag.
Pipe 100 g marshmallow on top of the croquant.
The rest is piped into the chocolate shell, filling it completely. Scrape off the excess and put it on top of the cake so that all the marshmallow mixture is used.
Cover with cling film and put the mould in the freezer or fridge.
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE:
300 G MILK CHOCOLATE, F.EX. CALLEBAUT 823
400 G HEAVY CREAM 38%
Finely chop the chocolate.
Melt the chocolate.
Heat 100 g of heavy cream to the boiling point and stir it into the chocolate, continue to stir until you have a glossy and smooth ganache.
Whip the rest of the cream to soft peaks.
Fold 1/4 of the whipped cream into the chocolate with at rubber spatula.
Carefully fold the rest of the whipped cream into the chocolate without knocking out too much air and fill a piping bag with the mousse.
ASSEMBLY:
Remove the base with the marshmallow topping from the freezer and free it from the mould. Place it in the center of an 18 cm spring mould with cake plastic lining the edge.
Pipe the chocolate mousse over so that the gingerbread base and the marshmallow are completely covered. Smooth out the surface and cover with cling film, put the cake back in the freezer for a minimum of 4 hours or until the mousse is completely frozen.
Remove the cake from the freezer. Carefully unmould it.
Spray the surface with red velvet spray and decorate with the chocolate wreath, dusted with edible gold dust. (Be very careful, when removing the wreath from the mould. Use a toothpick or needle to gently loosen the sides, before slowly pushing the rest of the wreath out. I was very careful and still ended up breaking some of the wreath, as the chocolate shell i so thin.)
Let the cake thaw in the refrigerator.
Decorate with tuiles before serving.
TUILES:
10 G SUGAR
10 G WHOLE EGG, WHISKED TOGETHER
10 G WHEAT FLOUR
EDIBLE GOLD DUST FOR DECORATING
Stir all the ingredients together into a smooth batter.
Place the baking mat on a baking tray and lightly spray with cooking spray.
Spread the batter over the mat with a palette to fill up the leaves, then scrape the mat completely clean.
Bake at 175 degrees celsius for about 6-7 min.
Remove from the mat with a toothpick or needle.
Dust with edible gold dust.