Gingerbread Cake or Spiced Bread?

by Anja

I don’t know whether to call this a gingerbread cake or spiced bread – it has a bit of both.

A wonderful, soft cake full of spiced flavor. It is a very simple recipe, handed to me by my dear colleague Thomas who made this cake/bread for us one day during last year’s holiday season.

This year I tried myself and was surprised how easy it was. It’s perfect to have with a cup of tea: you may even want to have a slice for breakfast – you may add some fresh butter, just like you’d do with a nice slice of regular bread.



Ingredients

200 ml (a little less than 1 cup) milk
80g (about 2/3 stick) butter
200g (3/4 cup) sugar (I used natural cane sugar)
200 ml (a little less than 1 cup)crème fraiche (Sauerrahm)
4 tablespoons pear syrup (Birnendicksaft/ Birnel), or agave sweetener if you don’t find pear syrup, and some more for finishing the cake
1-2 tablespoons gingerbread spice mix (if you cannot find it at your store, make your own by mixing ground cinnamon, coriander, star anise, clove and ginger)
280g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda


Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Butter a rectangular baking form.

In a medium-sized pot, warm up milk over low heat, add butter, so it melts. Remove from heat, and add sugar, crème fraiche, pear syrup, and gingerbread spice. Mix well.

Slowly add flour and baking soda and mix until smooth.

Fill into baking form and bake for about 50-60 minutes, checking for doneness with a wooden stick.

Remove from oven. While cake is still hot, spread some pear syrup on top. Let cool completely.

From our partner: LO+JUNE

From our partner: LO+JUNE
Artisanal French products in our Swiss fine food boutique