Naked gingerbread cake

A naked gingerbread cake decorated with gingerbread cookies (my own gingerbread dough is still maturing, so this time I used shop-bought cookies). The cake is filled with a delicious peanut butter and almond liqueur cream. Of course, you can easily customise the filling — whipped cream with plum butter, coffee cream, cinnamon cream or even a buttercream with speculoos spread would all work beautifully. There are so many possibilities, depending entirely on your taste. The cake itself is moist, rich and wonderfully aromatic, with sturdy cake layers that slice beautifully. Highly recommended!

Ingredients for the cake layers (3 layers):

• 150 ml milk
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 225 ml rapeseed or sunflower oil
• 420 g plain flour
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 280 g light muscovado sugar
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• 3 large pinches ground cloves
• 300 ml buttermilk or kefir
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon rum
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the milk and molasses in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring often, until combined. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, rum and vanilla — just until combined, do not whip. Add the milk and molasses mixture and stir. Sift directly into the bowl: flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Add the sugar and whisk until just combined. Check for any lumps of sugar and press them out with a spoon if necessary.

Grease and line the bases of three 20 cm cake tins. Divide the batter evenly between them.

Bake at 160°C for 25–30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Ingredients for the peanut butter cream:

• 130 g smooth peanut butter
• 500 g mascarpone, chilled
• 80 g icing sugar
• 4 tablespoons Amaretto, chilled

Place the peanut butter and mascarpone into a mixing bowl. Whisk using the whisk attachment until smooth and combined. Add the icing sugar and Amaretto and whisk until a smooth cream forms.

Assembly:

Layer the gingerbread sponges with the cream. Spread the remaining cream over the top and sides. Since this is a “naked cake”, the sponge layers should still be partially visible through the sides — do not fully cover them. Decorate with gingerbread biscuits. Chill before serving.

Store the cake in the fridge.

Enjoy!