Festive Sticky Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Here at WPHQ Christmas (over) indlugence is well underway, so when we were invited to try our hand at making the ultimate indulgent Christmas cake with Butter Beautiful, we jumped at the chance! 

Whether you're having a Christmas wedding, engagement party, or just fancy making a festive bake for the family, this Sticky Gingerbread Cake is sure to be a winner! What's more, it looks super impressive but is actually super easy to make! 

Check out the video to see Lara and Rosie trying their hand at baking... and read on for the instructions!

p.s Keep an eye out for Hannah from Butter Beautiful's cakes in the background - they're amazing! 

The Recipe

Sticky Gingerbread Cake 

This dark, rich gingerbread cake is a ginger lovers dream! I like to make three, 6" sponges which are layered with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Decorate with edible christmassy delights for a festive treat that's sure to impress your guests!

Ingredients

250g butter at room temperature

250g dark muscovado sugar

110g black treacle

375g plain flour

3 tsp ground ginger

3 tsp ground cinnamon

2 large eggs lightly beaten

3 or 4 pieces of stem ginger in syrup (depending how gingery you like it!)

300ml whole milk

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Two 6" x 4" cake tins. You could use three, 6" x 2.5" cake tins if you have them.

For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting 

125g unsalted butter

180g full fat cream cheese

100g icing sugar, sifted

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºc. 

2. Butter and line the cake tins. Be sure to line the sides of the tin too to ensure the cakes come out perfectly! Do this by cutting a long strip of baking parchment just wider than the height of your cake tin. Then wrap it around the inside of the tin using the butter to help it to stick.

3. Put the butter, sugar and black treacle in a saucepan and melt over a medium heat, stirring occasionally with a spatula to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pan. This usually takes about 5 mins. Remove from the heat.

4. Mix the flour and spices together in a bowl with a wooden spoon and pour over the melted sugar mixture.

5. Chop up the ginger pieces and stir them into the mixture along with the lightly beaten eggs. For a more gingery hit, chop the ginger into larger chunks.

6. In the same pan that the sugar mixture was in, pour in the milk and bicarbonate of soda and gently heat until it just starts to froth, but not boil. Mix the milk in with the rest of the ingredients. Be patient and just keep making a figure of eight shape with your spatula until the milk mixes in to form a dark, glossy batter.

7. For three sponges, pour two thirds of the mixture into one of the tins and a third in the other. Bake the tin with two thirds for about 45 mins and the other for 30 mins. Start checking them about 10 mins before the end of their cooking time and if the skewer comes out clean, get them out of the oven!  

8. Cool for 10 mins and then remove the sponges from their tins and pop them on a cooling rack.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Beat the butter using an electric mixer on its own for 5 mins.

2. Drain any liquid from the cream cheese and beat into the butter for another 2 mins.

3. Add the sifted icing sugar with the ground cinnamon and beat until smooth for about 2 mins. Pop in the fridge for 5 mins to firm up a little.

To assemble

1. Cut the bigger of the two sponges in half using a bread knife and trim the smaller sponge so it's roughly the same height. Blob a little frosting onto a cake board and place the first sponge on top, lightly pressing down so it doesn't slide around. 

2. Spread about a quarter of the frosting onto the first sponge, making sure you push it right to the edges. Repeat with the second sponge and put the third sponge on the top. Spread the remaining frosting over the entire cake, using a straight scraper to remove most of the excess. 

 3. Decorate with yummy Christmassy decorations like red currants, pecans, cinnamon sticks and candied orange slices. A little edible gold powder here will really give your cake the wow factor! 

Best served with a cup of tea and friends... Happy baking!