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Polish Gingerbread Cake Ciasto Imbirowe

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Cook Time: 45 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 2 9x5 loaves or 12 mini bundts 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: Polish

Description

A dense cake-like gingerbread that is extra delicious paired with marzipan, jam, and chocolate ganache


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup honey (or golden syrup)
  • 1 cup stong coffee
  • 8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa

for optional filling

  • 4 ounce tube marzipan
  • apricot or plum jam

for ganache topping

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F
  2. Comgine honey, coffee, butter, and spices in a saucepan, heat just enough to let butter, remove from heat
  3. Spray pans with baking spary (the one with flour works best)
  4. Combine eggs, and brown sugar, slowly add in the warm honey mixure with the mixer running
  5. Add baking powder, flour, and cocoa, mix until well combined
  6. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans, the batter is very thick
  7. If you’re adding marzipan directly into the batter, only add half of the batter to the pan, add marzipan and jam (a coil of marzipan made from a 1/3″ slice and approximately a teaspoon of jam in a mini bundt, for a loaf pan, use 5-6 times this amount distributing throughout the loaf pan, avoiding the edges) and then top with remaining batter. I filed my mini bundts to just 1/2 inch below the top, they domed over the top of the pan giving a nice tall mini bundt with a slightly rounded bottom when it’s turned upside down)
  8. Bake about 30 minutes for mini bundts, 45 minutes for loaf pans. You can test for doneness by pressing gently on the top of the cake, it should feel firm and spring back or a toothpick inserted in the top should come out clean
  9. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then carefully remove and cool completely on a wire rack
  10. If you want to add a filling, but didn’t bake it into the dough. slice the cakes into two layers
  11. I trimmed my loaf cake to get a flat top and straight, not flared sides
  12. Roll out the marzipan to about 1/8 inch thickness, cut to the shape of your cake
  13. Heat jam, brush the jam onto what will be the middle of the cake, the top of the bottom layer, the bottom of the top layer, add the thin layer of marzipan on top of the bottom layer and add the top layer, creating a marzipan sandwich

for ganache

  1. Heat the cream and chocolate (about 1 minute on 50% power in my microwave), stir until glossy and smooth
  2. Let the ganache cool for a few minutes to about 100 F (or while you’re preparing the filling)
  3. Spoon ganaache over the top of your cakes
  4. If desired, color leftover marzipan for decoration