Perfect matured gingerbread with jam and chocolate frosting

It may seem that there is plenty of time until Christmas, but there are matters worth thinking about already. One of them is matured gingerbread that will fill your homes with marvelous festive aroma. 

Gingerbread turns out soft, fluffy, just perfect. Spices we use will bring incredible smell, and jam and chocolate frosting round it up beautifully. Prepare space in your fridge already!

You'll find a list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (makes two gingerbread, 22 cm long)

Cake

• 125 g butter
• 250 g (2/3 cup) honey
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 500 g (3.5 cup) wheat flour
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground cloved
• 2 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp (10 g) baking soda
• Pinch of salt 
• 60 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• Time :)
  

Frosting

• 220 g dark chocolate
  
• 110 g butter
• 110 ml milk

Also

• 400 g jam
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds
• Candied orange peel

Method

1. Put 125 g butter, 250 g honey and 200 g sugar into a medium pot. Heat up its contents for a few minutes, stirring, until butter and sugar dissolve and form uniform liquid. Take pot off heat then and set it aside to cool.
2. Into a large bowl, sift 500 g wheat flour and 2 tsp each of the following: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Add in 2 tsp of baking soda and a generous pinch of salt. Mix through with a whisk to distribute all the spices evenly in flour.
3. Add 60 ml milk and 2 eggs into flour. Mix batter through until just combined and flour absorbs all moisture.
4. Pour cool honey syrup into the batter. Mix it in with a wooden spoon until you can no longer see flour and batter becomes uniform. Batter is rather thin at this stage - it will firm up after maturing and resemble dough more.
   
5. Transfer batter into a glass container, even out the top, cover with a clean cloth and, optionally, lightly with a lid. Put it into a fridge for 3-6 weeks.
6. Take dough out of the glass container and divide it into two roughly equal parts on a surface well dusted with flour. Return one half to the fridge. Transfer the second half onto a baking tray (32 x 24 cm) lined with baking paper and press it or roll it out to cover the full surface. Even it out with a smaller tray or a rolling pin.
7. Bake the cake in a conventional oven preheated to 180 deg C for about 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Take cake out of the oven and set it aside in the tray for about 15 minutes, to cool slightly. Turn it out onto a wire rack then, peel off baking paper and leave to cool completely. Feel free to repeat with the second part of the dough in this time to prepare a second gingerbread.
9. Transfer cool cake onto a chopping board and cut it into three even pieces. Place one layer into the bottom of a tray or board and cover it with a generous amount of plum jam. Place the next layer of cake on top and cover it with jam, too. Put the final cake layer on top, even the three layers as best as you can and, optionally, join them together with a wooden skewer to prevent them from shifting. Put gingerbread into a fridge overnight.
10. On the next day, prepare chocolate frosting. Chop 220 g dark chocolate and put it into a heatproof bowl. Pour 110 ml milk into a small pot and add 110 g butter. Heat the contents of the pot, stirring, until milk and butter combine completely. Once liquid starts to simmer, take it off heat and pour it into chocolate. Leave it for 3 minutes. Then, stir the contents of the bowl until chocolate melts completely and thick frosting forms. Pour it out onto the gingerbread.
11. Decorate gingerbread with almond flakes, candied orange peel or nuts. Set aside for the frosting to set.
12. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 415 kcal
• Carbs: 57 g 
• Fat: 18 g
• Protein: 6 g
• Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 30 slices)

• 242 kcal
• Carbs: 33 g 
• Fat: 11 g
• Protein: 4 g 
• Fibre: 1 g