A nice cake to end the year, the gingerbread village layer cake, almond and cinnamon cake, decorated with gingerbread house cookies, like a small village under the snow.
Composed of a crunchy soft cake with crushed almonds and flavoured with cinnamon, filled with a milk chocolate ganache and covered with a thin layer of mascarpone whipped cream.
This gingerbread village layer cake is :
- Perfect for the festive season with a Christmas theme
- To make with children, especially the decorated cookies!
- Very easy to make, especially if you don't have too much experience with layer cakes.
- Light with just a mascarpone cream, no buttercream.
And, It's a really simple layer cake, no complicated recipes, no need to smooth your cake to perfection.
Also, make the gingerbread house cookies with your children, they will love to decorate them with royal icing and help decorate the cake.
And if you like spiced Christmas cakes:
- Gingerbread layer cake
- Spice snowflake biscuits
- Snickerdoodle cookies
How to make gingerbread village layer cake
- To start, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Then, in a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the egg and molasses and continue to mix.
- Then add the dry ingredients and mix until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous ball of dough.
- Cover with cling film and place in a cool place for 30 minutes.
- Then take out the dough and roll it out between 2 sheets of baking paper.
- Using a pattern or ruler, cut out house shapes of different sizes.
- Finish by placing the cut out cookies on a baking tray covered with baking paper or silicone baking mat.
- And bake in the oven for the time indicated in the recipe sheet and leave your gingerbread house cookies to cool completely.
The royal icing
Start by placing the egg white and icing sugar in a container and beat with an electric mixer for about 7 minutes.
The royal icing should have a thick but still liquid texture, if it is too liquid add icing sugar and if on the contrary it seems too thick then add water in very small quantities.
Add a little white food colouring to make the royal icing opaque and more whiter.
Decorate cookies with royal icing
Use a disposable pastry bag filled with royal icing with a round nozzle type 00 or 0 depending on the desired effect on the biscuits.
Allow the decorated cookies to dry well at room temperature for 1 hour.
The milk chocolate ganache
- Start by cutting the milk chocolate into pieces and place it in a container.
- Bring the liquid cream to the boil and then pour it over the chocolate pieces.
- Then, using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir until you obtain a smooth ganache.
- Cover with cling film and place in the fridge overnight.
- Before assembling the layer cake, take out the ganache and whisk it with an electric whisk.
The almond and cinnamon cake
- Start by lining 2 round cake moulds 4 inch/12 cm in diameter with baking paper.
- Then in a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, flour, powdered almonds, ground cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
- And whisk the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Then add the eggs one by one.
- Finish by alternately adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk.
- Finally pour the pastry into your moulds and bake in the oven for the time indicated.
- Leave your cakes to cool and cover them with cling film and place them in the fridge for 2 hours.
The mascarpone whipped cream
- First of all, place all the ingredients in a container.
- And with an electric mixer beat the ingredients for about 2 minutes.
- Set aside in a cool place until assembly.
Assembly and decoration
- Start by taking the cakes out of the fridge and cut them into layers of equal thickness using a cake leveler.
- Place a cake board on a turntable cake decorating stand and place a first layer of cake.
- Spread a layer of milk chocolate ganache and smooth with a bent spatula, cover with a second layer of cake and repeat this step for all the remaining layers.
- Finally cover the whole cake with a layer of mascarpone whipped cream and smooth with the bent spatula.
- Finish by decorating your cake with decorated gingerbread houses cookies, use the mascarpone whipped cream to stick the biscuits around the cake.
How to store my gingerbread village cake layer
The layer cake can be kept in the fridge for about 1 week and the cake and cookies can be stored in the freezer for 3 months.
Gingerbread village layer cake
A layer cake consisting of a soft almond and cinnamon cake, light mascarpone cream and gingerbread biscuits (for 8 -10 cake pieces of 12 cm in diameter)
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Servings: 10 portions
Ingredients
- 350 g Flour
- 70 g brown sugar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 140 g butter - softened
- 1 egg
- 100 g molasses - or 50 g honey and 50 maple syrup
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 pinch salt
- 20 g unsweetned cocoa powder
Royal icing
- 150 g Icing sugar - sifted
- 1 egg white
Almond cinnamon cake
- 260 g Flour
- 80 g cane sugar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 30 g almond meal
- 170 g butter
- 240 g buttermilk - or milk
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 45 g crushed almonds
Chocolate ganache filling
- 100 g Milk chocolate
- 120 g Liquid cream - whole 30% fat
Mascarpone whipped cream
- 100 g mascarpone - cold
- 80 g liquide cream - whole 30% fat cold
- 1 tbsp Icing sugar
Instructions
Gingerbread houses cookies
- In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, flour, spices, salt, baking soda and cocoa.
- In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together the soft butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes, then add the egg, molasses, continue beating and stir in the dry ingredients.
- Form a homogeneous ball of dough, film on contact and place in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 3 mm, cut out house shapes of different sizes and place them on a baking tray covered with a silicone baking sheet.
- Place your baking sheet in the freezer for about 20 minutes.Preheat your oven to 347°F / 175°C, bake the biscuits for about 10-12 minutes.
Royal icing
- Whip the icing sugar with the egg white for about 7 minutes, until it becomes white and frothy.
- The royal icing will thicken but should remain runny, if it is too thick you can add a few drops of water and on the contrary if you find it too runny, add some icing sugar instead and whisk again for a few moments.
Cookies decorations
- Garnish a pastry bag with the royal icing, fitted with a small round nozzle, or simply by cutting off the end of the bag.
- Decorate your biscuits with the royal icing as you wish and leave to dry for about 1 hour.
Almond cinnamon cake
- Preheat your oven to 347°F/ 175°C and line 2 round moulds of 12 cm in diameter with baking paper.
- Mix all the dry ingredients, flour, almond powder, cinnamon, salt and baking powder together in a bowl.
- In the bowl of your mixer, whisk the soft butter with the sugars for 2-3 minutes, then add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition.
- Incorporate the dry ingredients mixture in 3 times, alternating with the buttermilk.
- Add the crushed almonds and continue beating for another 1 minute.
- Divide your mixture in half and pour it into your 2 cake moulds.
- Bake for about 45-50 minutes.
- Leave your cakes to cool completely before covering them with cling film and placing them in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Chocolate ganache filling
- Cut the chocolate into pieces and place it in a container.
- Bring the liquid cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate in one go.
- Mix with a spatula until you obtain a smooth ganache.
- Cover on contact and place in the fridge for 1 night or until the ganache is cold.
- Before assembling the cake, whisk the chocolate ganache for 1-2 minutes.
Mascarpone whipped cream
- Place the cold liquid cream in a container and whip it with an electric whisk.
- Stir in the cold mascarpone and icing sugar and continue beating for 1-2 minutes.
- Reserve at the expense until assembly.
Assembly and decoration
- Using a sponge cake lyre, cut out the bump of your 2 cakes, then cut them into 4 layers of equal size.
- Place a cake base on your turntable, place a first layer of cake, place a layer of chocolate ganache on top, smooth with a bent spatula and cover with a 2nd layer of cake.
- Repeat this step for the remaining 2 layers of cake.
- Apply a thin layer of whipped cream mascarpone over the whole cake.
- Place your cake on your support or display, decorate the outline with the biscuits, stick them if necessary with a little whipped cream to make them stick.
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Nutrition
Serving: 1portion | Calories: 391kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 91mg | Sodium: 155mg | Potassium: 177mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 573IU | Calcium: 152mg | Iron: 2mg
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