Gingerbread Tree
Ingredients
For 1 tree:
250 ml milk
60 g honey
300 g all-purpose flour
150 g ground almonds
15 g baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
0.5 ground clove
0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
150 g soft butter
120 g brown sugar
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
200 g dark chocolate
For decoration:
Fresh rosemary sprigs
Chopped Pistachios
Pecans
Dried cranberries
Confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
Step 1
Add milk and honey to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer on Induction Hob heat setting 7. Then, set aside.
Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, ground almonds, baking powder, cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground clove, ground nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.
Step 3
Preheat your oven to 180 °C Circo Therm® and choose Added Steam Intensity Level 2. With a hand mixer, beat soft butter and brown sugar until pale and foamy. Then, beat in eggs adding one at a time until fully incorporated. Alternating, add dry ingredients and warm milk mixture to the butter mixture. Continue to beat until fully combined.
Step 4
Add the batter to a greased baking pan (30x24). Spread evenly and gently knock pan on work surface to release air bubbles. Bake on shelf level 2 for approx. 10 minutes with Added Steam, then continue baking for approx. 10 minutes without Added Steam, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Set aside to cool.
Step 5
For the Christmas tree shapes remove the cooled down cake from the baking tin. Use either a self made template or simply cut out 3 trapezoidal shapes and 1 small triangle. Transfer the pieces to a wire rack. Then, set the rack onto a rimmed baking sheet which will catch the chocolate drips while coating.
Step 6
Roughly chop dark chocolate. Choose Temperature Cooking with the Twist Pad Flex® and slowly chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot with water at 70 °C. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake pieces and let the chocolate set for at least 20 minutes in the fridge.
Step 7
Assemble the pieces to form a Christmas tree and decorate with fresh rosemary sprigs, chopped pistachios, pecans, dried cranberries and confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy!
