- 12 Bakes of Christmas 2017: Florentines (Vegan)
- 12 Bakes of Christmas 2017: Spiced Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Orange Icing
This Spiced Gingerbread Bundt Cake is the epitome of Christmas, with the rich spices, indulgent, sweet black treacle, and the fresh, zesty orange. It has all the lovely stickiness of a classic gingerbread, but without the heaviness because of the addition of cider and the fresh orange icing.
As it’s a variation on a gingerbread cake, the longer you keep it stored, the better it gets. It’s very easy to make, and I guarantee it’ll impress!
Ingredients
For the Cake…
- 250ml dry, apple cider
- 175ml vegetable or sunflower oil
- 125g soft dark brown sugar
- 300g black treacle
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsps. finely grated, fresh ginger
- 300g plain flour
- 2 tsps. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- 2½ tsps. Chinese five spice
- 1½ tsps. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. ground ginger
- Extra oil for greasing the cake pan
For the Icing…
- Icing sugar
- The zest and juice of 1 large orange
Method
- Before you measure out any of the ingredients, open the cider. This will allow it enough time to go flat before you add it to the cake batter later on.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C Fan/ Gas Mark 3/ 325°F, and grease your pan with a good amount of oil, spreading it around the whole of the pan using a piece of kitchen roll. Place the pan upside-down on a few pieces of kitchen roll while you make the cake batter, to get rid of any excess oil.
- Measure out the soft brown sugar, oil and black treacle into a large bowl. To stop the treacle sticking, lightly oil whatever you are using to measure it out, beforehand.
- Add the cider and the eggs. Peel and finely grate the fresh ginger (just enough for 2 teaspoons worth), then add to bowl as well. Beat until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, freshly grated nutmeg, five spice, cinnamon, and ground ginger.
- Add the dry ingredients a little at a time to the wet ingredients, beating together as you do so, until the mixture is fully combined. This should result in a thin and runny batter.
- Carefully pour the cake mix into the oiled Bundt cake pan. Bake for around 45-50 minutes, or until the cake starts to come away from the sides of the pan. To test if it’s done, you can insert a wooden or metal skewer into the cake; if it comes out clean when removed, it’s ready.
- Place the cake onto a rack to cool for about half an hour. When it’s cooled, level off any cake that has risen over the top of the pan with a serrated knife, and turn out onto a plate or cake board. If it’s difficult to remove, you can gently prise the cake away from the edges of the pan with your fingers.
- While you leave the cake to cool fully, you can make the icing. This step is optional (as the cake is delicious on its own). However, I think the orange in the icing adds a nice freshness to the cake, which compliments the rich, spicy flavour of the gingerbread.
- To make the icing, zest and strain the juice of the orange. Put the zest off to the side. To the strained orange juice, add the icing sugar a few tablespoons at a time, until the icing is a thick consistency.
- Spoon the icing onto the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides a little. Scatter the orange zest on top of the cake, before the icing has had time to set completely.
Recipe adapted from Nigella.com
This article was originally submitted by Harriet Samuel.
