How was everyone’s weekend? It seems like the weekend just flies by for me. I had big plans for the weekend to decorate the house for Christmas, do some baking, finish the last of my shopping, and write out my Christmas cards. I managed to finish off my shopping, which feels great because when the malls start getting too busy I really can’t handle it. I really don’t liked to get stressed about it because it really takes the fun out of it for me, so I’m glad I was able to get that done so early this year. I also wrote all my Christmas cards, as for the rest; it didn’t get done. But, tomorrow is another day 
I’ve been dying to share this cake with you for what seems like months! But I held off until now because to me, this cake just screams winter, and Christmas. I mean, when else are you going to eat a gingerbread cake that’s infused with all of those warm, winter spices, and topped with a fluffy old fashioned eggnog buttercream? This is seriously the time for it.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this cake. It was such a welcomed change from a basic chocolate or vanilla cake. What I love most is about this cake is the little finishing touches of the Pearlized sprinkles
The cake itself is a perfectly moist (there’s that word again), not too light, but not too dense cake with a nice crumb. The cake is infused with lots of rich winter spices and molasses to basically make it like a gingerbread cake. It was so good, I could have eaten it alone with no icing! And the nice thing is that the layers baked up perfectly level, so there was no trimming involved to make them even. Always a bonus in my book!
The frosting is what I consider to be an old fashioned frosting. It’s a base of sugar, milk, and flour that is boiled to make something similar to a pudding. It is then whipped along with some butter to create a light and fluffy frosting. What I love about this frosting is that it’s just the perfect sweetness, and just a little different than your usual frosting. I’ve made this type of frosting before, but prefer this method as it gives the best end result. If you’ve never made this type of frosting that uses flour, I urge you to give it a try!
I loved this cake a lot, and I hope you do too! This would be a beautiful cake to add to your festive holiday gatherings!
Stay tune, I have plenty of wonderful recipes to share with you in the coming weeks. My list is huge, so hopefully I can squeeze it all in! What are you baking this holiday season? Anything that you would like to see here? Let me know
Hope you have a great monday, and a great start to your week!
A rich and moist gingerbread spice cake filled and frosted with an old fashioned eggnog buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, plus 3 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups ice cold water
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cool but not cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans with butter, and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and molasses. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and shortening on medium high speed until creamy and well combined, about 3 minutes. Add in the sugar, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add in the vanilla, and the whole egg, beating until just combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, add in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the water, then 1/2 of the remaining flour, then the water, and ending with the remaining flour. Scrape down the bowl, and turn the mixer to medium for a few seconds to ensure all the components are well combined. Be sure not to over mix. Add in the cinnamon molasses mixture, and mix on low speed to combine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 3 egg whites and cream of tarter until soft peaks form. You can simply do this by hand with a whisk. It takes a little bit of elbow grease, but it only takes about 3 to 5 minutes. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter by hand.
- Divide the batter among the three pans, and smooth the tops. The batter may look a little bit separated. I like to weigh my batter into the pans to ensure even cake layers. Bake the layers for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and allow them to cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Then turn them out and remove the parchment to cool completely.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and flour. Slowly whisk in the milk and heavy cream. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the mixture has come to a boil and has thickened. I find it helpful to switch to a heatproof spatula halfway through to be able to reach the edges of the pot. Remove the pan from the heat, and strain the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Using the paddle attachment, beat the mixture on high speed until it is cool, about 10 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, and add all the butter. Increase the speed to medium high, and beat until all the butter is combined and the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. It may not look right at first, but keep beating it, it will come together.
- Add in the rum, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and mix until throughly combined. Add in about 1 heaping teaspoon of lustre dust if using and combine. If the frosting is too soft, refrigerate it for about 15 minutes, then beat again until light and fluffy.
- Place 1 cake layer on a plate, then top with about 1 1/2 cups of frosting and smooth it to create an even layer. Repeat for 2nd and 3rd layer. Apply a thin layer of frosting to the outside of the cake to create a crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake to allow the crumb coat to set for about 10 minutes. Remove from the fridge and apply another layer of frosting to the top and sides of the cake.
- To create the look in the photos. Try to smooth the top and sides as best you can. I like to use a small offset spatula to fill and frost the cake. Then, use a bench scraper to smooth the sides, then the small offset spatula to smooth the top. This doesn't have to be perfect.
- Using a large angled spatula, starting at the bottom, apply slight even pressure to spatula against the cake, and turn the cake to create a slight indentation. Do this all the way up to the top of the cake. For the top, start at the outside of the cake, and work your way in without stopping the motion to create a swirl pattern. I find using a turntable is the best way to do this.
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with some sprinkles or nonpareils of your choice, or leave it plain.
Notes
This cake will keep at room temperature covered for up to 3 days. I like to cover all my cakes with a cake dome. Otherwise, cover tightly and keep refrigerate for up to 2 days, allowing the cake to come to room temperature before serving.
Jessica’s Notes:
- When I make layer cakes, in order to spread out the work, I typically always make the layers a few days ahead of time. I cool them completely, the wrap in 2 to 3 layers of plastic wrap, and freeze until the day I plan to assemble the cake. Cake that has been frozen is actually much tastier than cake that is freshly made. Believe me. I just remove the layers from the freezer while making the buttercream. I like to work with my layers slightly cold as I find them much easier to work with. Also, making layers ahead of time makes less work on the day of assembly.
- To get even layers of frosting between the layers, I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure out the frosting.
- The tools I use most often and used to decorate this cake are a Rotating Cake Stand
, large Angled Spatula
, Ateco small Offset Spatula
, and a Bench Scraper
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