Fondant Fox - Gingerbread
FONDANT FOX - GINGERBREAD RECIPE
Instead of a gingerbread house Fondant Fox has created a gingerbread tree desert. A great recipe to get the family involved - with the added bonus of the gorgeous festive smell around your house! It makes a WOW centerpiece for your festive table and you can make whatever size you like, so perfect if you’re celebrating on a smaller scale this year - the recipe below shows you how to make 2 x delicious spicy gingerbread tree’s sandwiched and topped with zesty clementine buttercream. Any leftover dough can be used to make mini iced biscuits to top it with.
Ingredients
Makes a tree around 10inches in height (to serve approx 6) plus extra for mini gingerbread cookies
Hot mixture:
• 210g soft light brown sugar
• 5 tbsp water
• 45g treacle
• 45g golden syrup
• 3 tbsp ground ginger
• 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 250g salted butter cubed (cold)
• 560g plain flour
METHOD
To make the dough, heat the “Hot Mixture” ingredients, whilst stirring, until starting to bubble (if you happen to have an AEG SensePro Induction Hob then use the handy little wireless probe to tell you when the mixture reaches 100c). Remove from the heat then VERY CAREFULLY add the butter and stir through. Then add the bicarb and whisk through. Lastly pour into a bowl and leave to cool for about 5 minutes before sifting in the flour and fold through. Divide into 2, cling film and chill in fridge.
Preheat oven to 190c (Fan).
Make a stencil of a Christmas tree (I used the back of an empty cereal box - blue peter taught me well!) roughly 10 inches in length. Roll dough into a rectangle and transfer to a baking tray lined with greaseproof - cut around the tree stencil using a small sharp knife (if you transfer the whole thing before you cut the tree shape you end up with a much neater shape). Repeat. With any leftover dough, roll this out and make some mini cookies (or save for crumbling into next weeks trifle recipe for an added bit of crunch).
CLEMENTINE BUTTERCREAM:
Beat 500g of unsalted butter in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add 1kg of Icing sugar, 2 tbsp of cold water, 1 tbsp vanilla bean extract and zest of 2 x clementines and beat again for another 5 mins. Pop into a piping bag and cut the end off about 2cm wide,
DEHYDRATED ORANGE SLICES:
Pre-heat oven to 85c. Slice 2 x oranges into thin pieces and place on a wire rack over a lined baking tray (to catch any sticky drips) and bake in oven for about 2-3 hours, or until dried out and firm.
ASSEMBLING YOUR TREE:
Cover a square cake board with white fondant (the pre-rolled stuff works a treat if you aren’t a whizz with fondant) Add a dollop of buttercream to the cake board and stick the first gingerbread tree down. Pipe small buttercream kisses in rows to cover the whole of the tree, then sandwich and repeat the same with the next tree. Finally pile on your favourite treats such as little meringues, berries, dried fruits, toasted nuts, mini gingerbread cookies, chocolates and even a dusting of cinnamon for an extra warm bit of spice. This will be an awesome treat for the whole family at Christmas and everyone can get involved in helping to make it!
