Katarzynka cake

Katarzynka cake is a delicious festive layered cake filled with gingerbread biscuits and plenty of creamy filling. My version combines a light chocolate sponge, buttery custard cream, Katarzynki gingerbread biscuits, plum butter and whipped cream – everything you could wish for in a Christmas dessert. Although one of the layers is made with the classic Katarzynki® gingerbread biscuits, their spiced flavour doesn’t overpower the cake. I originally planned to bake this for last Christmas, but, as life often does, it had other ideas. This year I made it already in October, just to be sure I’d have it ready well before Christmas! I highly recommend giving it a try.

Important: Prepare the cake 24 hours before serving so the gingerbread biscuits have time to soften.

Ingredients for the chocolate sponge:

• 3 large eggs
• 160 g caster sugar
• 75 ml water
• 75 ml vegetable oil
• 150 g plain flour (1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

All the ingredients should be at room temperature. Combine the water and oil in a jug.

Grease the base and sides of a 24 × 35 cm baking tin and line it with baking paper.

Place the eggs and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk on high speed until the mixture becomes very pale, thick and tripled in volume. This takes about 7–10 minutes in a stand mixer or 10–15 minutes with a hand mixer. The mixture should fall from the whisk in a thick ribbon and remain visible on the surface for several seconds. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the water and oil mixture. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder directly into the batter, then gently fold together with a whisk or spatula until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake at 170°C for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.

Ingredients for the butter custard cream:

• 750 ml milk, divided into 400 ml and 350 ml
• 170 g caster sugar, divided into 100 g and 70 g
• 8 g vanillin sugar
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 5 tablespoons potato starch
• 3 large egg yolks
• 200 g unsalted butter

All the ingredients should be at room temperature. Bring 400 ml of the milk and 100 g of the sugar to the boil in a saucepan.

Whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla sugar until pale. Add the flour, potato starch and the remaining 350 ml of milk, then mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the boiling milk, whisking constantly. Cook until thickened, then simmer for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Cover the surface of the custard directly with cling film and leave to cool completely. Do not stir while cooling.

Beat the butter with the remaining 70 g of sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the cooled custard in three additions until smooth.

You’ll also need:

• about 22 Katarzynki® traditional gingerbread biscuits (without chocolate coating), plus a few extra for decoration
• about 290 g plum butter

Ingredients for the whipped cream:

• 500 ml double cream, chilled
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar

Whip the cream with the icing sugar until stiff peaks form.

To assemble:

Spread the cooled chocolate sponge with the plum butter. Spread the butter custard cream evenly over the top. Arrange about 20 Katarzynki® gingerbread biscuits over the custard cream in a single layer. Spread the whipped cream over the biscuits and smooth the surface. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, allowing the gingerbread biscuits to soften. Before serving, finely grate 2 Katarzynki® biscuits over the top. Cut into squares and decorate with additional whole gingerbread biscuits.

Store the Katarzynka cake in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!