All the Christmas spices without the fruit. Perfect if you prefer a lighter decorative cake that not only looks good but tastes delicious.
Function: Circo Therm®
Christmas Spice Cake
Ingredients
3 ½ cups plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp bi carb soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
250g butter, softened
1 ¼ cups caster sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup golden syrup
5 eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk
Frosting
375g cream cheese, softened
180g butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
7 – 8 cups icing sugar, sifted
Green food colouring
Christmas sprinkles
Method
Preheat the oven on CircoTherm to 160°c and place wire racks on shelf positions 1 and 3.
Grease and base line 3 x 20cm shallow cake pans.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bi carb soda and spices and set aside. Using a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugars and golden syrup until creamed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add half the sifted flour and mix on a low speed until just combined. Add the buttermilk and continue mixing on a low speed until just combined then finish with remaining sifted flour. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared cake pans then bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Remove the cakes from the pans and allow to cool completely, upside down on a cooling rack.
While the cakes are cooking, make the frosting. Place the cream cheese, butter and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on a medium speed to combine. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar and beat to form a creamy frosting. Place approximately 1 ⅓ cups of the frosting into a bowl and add a few drops of green food colouring. Mix well to combine then place into a piping bag fitted with a star pipe and set aside until needed.
Place one cake onto a serving plate and spread with a layer of icing of the uncoloured frosting.
Repeat with the remaining two cakes, then spread the remainder of the frosting around the cake layers. Pipe the coloured frosting to form Christmas tree shapes on the top of the cake and sprinkle the trees with Christmas sprinkles.
Authors Bio
Bridget has worked in the home appliance industry for more than 15 years. She loves to cook & really enjoys working with customers to help them select appliances to best suit their needs as well as following up with further instruction when the appliances are installed.