Vegan gingerbread cake with custard buttercream

That is my final recipe of 2022 and I’m signing off with one thing very particular. It’s my gran’s layered gingerbread recipe that my mum has kindly allowed me to veganise for my weblog. My mum makes this cake for Christmas yearly and everybody loves it. It’s considered one of many Christmas desserts my mum makes (this candy tooth I complain about once in a while runs in my household…) and it’s a non negotiable a part of the Christmas menu in her opinion…

My makes an attempt at veganising this cake have been fairly hilarious and slightly irritating, I gained’t lie. My gran’s recipe e book has some obscure models of measurements, which led me to make some errors initially. One factor I realised after my makes an attempt on the custard buttercream have turned out slightly under par was that when my mum says ‘tablespoons’ she truly means a selected tablespoon that was part of my gran’s marriage ceremony crockery set and stated tablespoon measures 20 ml (versus 15 ml) so I saved on utilizing too little flour for the quantity of cream.

Lastly, we labored it out at which level my mum appeared geniunely bewildered that I didn’t know that she meant ‘gran’s tablespoons’ though I’m fairly positive she by no means careworn that time. Anyway, we had snort and I gave her a mild ribbing about how delightfully imprecise some features of gran’s recipe have been.

In the long run, we hit the jackpot and I’m tremendous satisfied because it’s considered one of my favorite Christmas desserts. The idea behind this cake is definitely pretty much like a tiramisu though the ratios of biscuit base to cream is completely different and so are the flavours. My mum’s cake has 4 layers, however I wished it extra regal and photogenic so ended up selecting 5. Though it’s tempting, I don’t suggest stacking any greater than 5 sheets as the entire weight of the cake is an excessive amount of and a few of the buttercream might begin to squeeze out.

The bottom of this dessert is gingerbread, however as a substitute of slicing it into cookies, it’s formed into massive rectangular sheets. These sheets get moistened with a selection of soaking liquid – Amaretto, lemon water, chai tea – and stacked collectively in between layers of custard buttercream and a few bitter jam for distinction. All the edifice (it appears like one if you find yourself constructing it) then wants relaxation (72 hour is good) for the gingerbread layers to melt and for the flavours to develop and mingle.

Flavours apart, what’s nice about this cake is you can cut up the work into phases and make some objects so far as two weeks forward of time. My mum tells me that she bakes the gingerbread bases two weeks earlier than Christmas and doesn’t put together the cream till 6-5 days forward and solely assembles the entire thing 4 days earlier than Christmas. It’s a excellent cake for while you need to make one thing spectacular, crowd-pleasing (who doesn’t like gingerbread?) but one thing that doesn’t require any work on the day. I’m a large fan of this cake and I’m so satisfied that I now have it in my fridge – it makes me really feel rather less homesick this Christmas. I hope you’ll be tempted to make it and that you’ll get pleasure from it as a lot as my household does.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

GINGERBREAD SHEETS

VEGAN BUTTER: I used vegan butter block (Violife) in each gingerbread bases and buttercream. One other model, which I truly want however it’s not accessible regionally to me, is the Danish model Naturli. Use any vegan butter you get pleasure from, however make sure that to go for one which is available in a block, not the softened, spreadable selection that is available in a bath.

MUSCOVADO SUGAR: Muscovado sugar, which is far much less refined than different sugars so it comprises a whole lot of naturally current molasses, contributes a whole lot of flavour to those gingerbread sheets. It exists in darkish and light-weight selection, and whereas each will work, I like to recommend utilizing darkish muscovado sugar for max flavour. Muscovado sugar is sort of a moist sugar so it tends to clump rather a lot when being retailer. If yours has any clumps, squash them between your fingertips earlier than including to the bowl with butter.

GROUND FLAX: In case you are making these with common flour, there isn’t any want so as to add flax in any respect. If nonetheless, you need to make these gluten-free use a well-balanced GF flour combine (that comprises some starches) and add some flax to maintain these from crumbling.

PLANT MILK: I like utilizing protein wealthy soy milk in baking however, any plant milk will do on this recipe.

BAKING SODA: Baking soda is what helps these gingerbread sheets rise slightly and stops them from being too dense.

SPICES: I used the next mixture of traditional gingerbread spices to flavour these gingerbread sheets: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves. You possibly can modify the quantities and perhaps swap out some spices to your liking. All spice, coriander and black pepper are sometimes additionally used.

FLOUR: all goal (often known as plain) flour is what I used to make these and this GF flour combine to make gluten-free model.

CRANBERRY LAYER

CRANBERRIES: I cooked down unsweetened contemporary (frozen work properly too) cranberries to create a tangy layer of filling, which offers a pleasant distinction with the candy custard buttercream and gingerbread. You might additionally use a prepared made jam or protect in the event you want – my mum makes use of her home made bitter cherry jam, which works a deal with. Plum jam additionally works properly. In case your jam isn’t very bitter, be sure you lower the quantity of sugar added to the buttercream to make sure the dessert isn’t overly candy.

CUSTARD BUTTERCREAM

VEGAN SINGLE CREAM: vegan cream offers the bottom for the custard part. I used Oatly single cream however my mum additionally made it for me as soon as utilizing full fats coconut milk and it was simply as good, albeit with an added flavour of coconut. I’ve not had the possibility to check, however I’m fairly positive that thick plant milk may also render good outcomes (Oatly barista, for instance) as my mum’s non-vegan recipe is solely based mostly on full fats dairy milk.

FLOUR: all goal (often known as plain) flour is without doubt one of the two flours I used to thicken the custard. Within the absence of egg yolks – which my mum’s non-vegan recipe doesn’t use both btw – we’re utilizing what might seem to be a good bit of flour. You you need to maintain this dessert gluten-free, use GF flour combine or enhance the quantity of starch by weight.

POTATO STARCH: potato starch is what my mum makes use of, along side plain flour, to agency up the custard base. I’ve additionally tried utilizing cornflour (often called cornstarch within the US) and it work simply as properly. Use the identical quantity by weight.

SUGAR: I used caster sugar to sweeten the custard and though you could possibly use any sugar you want, pay attention to the truth that non white sugar will flip the color of the buttercream darker. This buttercream is sort of candy, which you’ll modify to your liking, however I personally like the way it sweetness shines towards lip puckering unsweetened cranberries.

VANILLA: glug of vanilla makes this custard buttercream actually scrumptious so I like to recommend utilizing as a lot as 1 tbsp for this quantity of cream. Orange zest can be a pleasant addition, however I wished to maintain this already concerned recipe so simple as I can.

VEGAN BUTTER: as we’re making a kind of buttercream for this cake, we are going to want vegan butter to stiffen the filling and provides it a whipped texture. I used vegan butter block (Violife).

HOW TO MAKE THE BUTTERCREAM

Begin off with making a easy custard in a pot, permit it to go chilly. Whip softened vegan butter in a meals processor till clean and lump-free, use a spatula to assist the method.

As soon as the butter is clean, add chilly custard to the meals processor – tablespoon by tablespoon – incorporating properly after every addition. By the top of this course of, it is best to find yourself with a secure and fluffy custard buttercream.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE

To start with, make sure that all of the parts are chilly. Place a sheet of gingerbread on a floor (tray, plate) that may comfortably slot in your fridge. Brush every successive gingerbread – don’t brush prematurely as this can make gingerbread fragile and simple to interrupt – with 2 tbsp of soaking liquid of selection and permit that liquid to soak in earlier than topping with a layer of custard buttercream (or cranberry jelly).

Although this quantity of dough may give you as many as 7 layers of gingebread base, don’t be tempted to stack this cake too excessive – I’d say that 5 layers is the higher restrict – as in any other case the cake turns into too heavy, which signifies that the underside layers get squashed and the filling begins to be pushed out as a substitute of staying in between layers.