The aroma of ginger is associated with the New Year holidays and Christmas. It's not just that this root is added to dry gingerbread spirits, poured into dough for painted cookies, and also used in other holiday desserts. There are pastries that cannot be cooked without this ingredient. It's about gingerbread cake. What it is?
Pies or gingerbread cookies?
Sorceresses from different countries cook pastries with ginger. This spine has been added to the dough since the 11th century. Initially, bread was baked with him and used for medicinal purposes. But gradually this taste and aroma was so liked that it firmly entered the culinary life. Especially often it was added to festive pastries. On the eve of Christmas, an unusual aroma of spices is floating in the streets of England.
What is ginger combined with:
- cinnamon
- zest;
- honey
- cocoa.
You can add cardamom, cloves, and vanilla. Most often, fragrant gingerbread is prepared with these spices. They look spectacular, delight with sweetness and taste, but require certain skills. Cakes are much simpler and easier to make and decorate. Gingerbread cakes can be prepared with toppings and from a variety of types of dough. They can be coated with icing or regular chocolate, decorated with mastic and even add “surprises” inside.
Gingerbread cake is not only a Christmas treat. It can be prepared for any other holiday, for example, on March 8 or on your birthday, you just need to be creative in decorating the dessert.
Features of using Ginger
- Ground dried ginger is most often added to the dough. For better distribution, it is mixed with flour or dissolved in liquids. It is important not to overdo it, 1 tsp is enough per kilogram of flour. If other spices are used, the amount can be reduced.
- Some recipes require the use of fresh root. It is now easy to buy in a store. But it is important to carefully chop and remove the fibers, which are very much in the root of ginger. After baking, they will not dissolve, the dough will be spoiled.
- Dry ginger powder is more concentrated than fresh root. When replacing it, you need less.
- Ginger can be added not only to the dough, but also to the filling for pies. For this, a dry spice or a carefully ground root is used.
- You can use candied ginger petals or candied fruit to decorate the pies. They are sold in shops and pastry shops.
- If the cake is covered with glaze or syrup, jam, jam is used for impregnation or filling, then ginger root can also be added to them.
Pie dough
Ginger can be added to shortbread, yeast or any other dough. In any case, the cake will delight the aroma. For festive baking, semi-liquid dough with soda or other baking powder is most often used. It turns out a soft cake like cake, biscuit, with a porous and delicate crumb. If you add enough fat, it will not become black for a long time.
Often honey is present in gingerbread cakes. It gives a special taste, delicate and soft structure, and also preserves the freshness of baking, gives a dark color. If this ingredient is indicated in the recipe, then do not exclude it. But substitution is possible with invert or corn syrup. This is done in order to save or in the presence of an allergy to honey. Invert syrup is easy to make at home.
Gingerbread Cakes
Pies are usually cooked in the oven, but there are recipes for a slow cooker. Since the dough is usually very sweet and contains honey, it is important not to make a high temperature, otherwise the crust will quickly burn out and the cake will not bake inside. It is more reasonable to cook at 170-180 degrees or strictly follow the recipe.
The gingerbread cake dish is always greased, sometimes additionally covered or sprinkled with flour, breadcrumbs. Dough with honey likes to stick, so it is important not to skip this step. Silicone molds are optional, but possible.
Serving a pie to the table
Gingerbread cake is served with tea, coffee, milk and other drinks. It is put entirely on the table or pre-cut. Big pieces do not need to be made, since pies of this kind are satisfying, heavy and quite high-calorie, it is more reasonable to offer the guest an additional portion. You do not need to sweeten drinks, but you can serve sugar, jam, condensed milk and honey separately.
Of great importance is the design of the cake. It will also help to mask flaws, for example, a burnt or cracked crust. As a decoration for the cake, you can use coconut or chocolate chips, powdered sugar. Baking with cream and nuts looks beautiful and spectacular, as in the recipe below.
Christmas Gingerbread Cake Recipe
You can add ginger to any dough, use proven variants of pies, but why? There are special holiday recipes that allow you to get lush, fragrant, very tasty pastries. Here, a simple ginger cake, which is easy to prepare, does not stale for a long time, it is allowed to decorate in any way or bake in curly forms. You can add chopped apple, a handful of soaked raisins or other dried fruits, nuts to this pie.
Ingredients
- 250 g of wheat flour;
- 2 tsp fresh ginger;
- 1 pinch of clove;
- 7 tablespoons of honey;
- 1 tsp baking powder;
- 1 tsp soda;
- 150 g of brown sugar;
- 125 g butter;
- 1 handful of almonds;
- 150 ml olive oil;
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 eggs.
Cooking method
- Pour the flour into a sieve, add ground cinnamon and a cultivator, soda, stir and sift.
- Mix sugar with eggs, add olive oil and two tablespoons of melted honey. Introduce grated ginger, all dry ingredients, make the dough. At will, we throw a chopped apple or other additives into it.
- Transfer the mass to a small form, bake about 45 minutes at 180 degrees. Let stand for five minutes, then remove from the mold and cool on a wire rack.
- Soften butter and beat with remaining honey. Chop the almonds. You can take ready-made petals or other nuts.
- Garnish the cake with cream and almonds. It is important that it has cooled by this time, otherwise the oil and honey will leak.
From the same test you can make gingerbread muffins, just lay out the mass in small molds. It will turn out beautifully, accurately, it is convenient to take such pastries with you and treat friends.
