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Jan 20, 2020

Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream

This Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream is so gingery, moist, sweet, and delicious!

Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream




This ginger cake with caramelized white chocolate buttercream is loaded with so many gingerbread-y flavors, including molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon, powdered ginger, and even homemade stem ginger syrup.

What is stem ginger? I'd never heard of it before trying this recipe. Stem ginger is candied ginger in its own syrup.

You can make it by boiling fresh ginger in water for about an hour, and then adding sugar to some of the water and boiling it even longer. Once you've made it, you can keep it in the refrigerator and use it for lots of recipes calling for candied ginger. It will last about 6 months.

You can also substitute corn syrup or buy it on Amazon! (affiliate link)

Stem Ginger




How to make this sticky ginger cake:


First, you melt butter, molasses, corn syrup, stem ginger syrup, and vanilla in a saucepan. After that, stir in sugar off heat. 

Next, whisk together eggs and milk and stir them into the gingery mixture. Sift in the flour, baking soda, powdered ginger cinnamon, and a pinch of dried cloves. Finally, bake the batter in a parchment lined baking pan. The deliciousness of the cake will amaze you.

Once you have baked the cake, frost it with caramelized white chocolate buttercream frosting.


Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream


How to make (or rescue) your caramelized white chocolate: 


This cake also includes a delicious buttercream frosting which includes caramelized white chocolate.

Caramelized white chocolate is made by baking white chocolate in an oven, stirring it every 10 minutes until it turns to a caramel color and is smooth and liquified. I know that it's possible because David Lebovitz, one of my favorite dessert icons, says it's possible, and he's proved it with photos.

Unfortunately, I was totally unsuccessful with the process for making caramelized white chocolate, with my chocolate ending up all grainy and powdery. I suspect it was because the white chocolate I used did not have high enough cocoa solids. I learned after making this cake that the white chocolate should have at least 30 to 35 percent cocoa solids. Unfortunately, most white chocolate does not come labeled with their cocoa solid percentages.

To save my Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream, I processed the grainy mixture of caramelized white chocolate in a food processor. Next, I heated the grainy mixture in the microwave for about a minute. After that, I brought about 1/3 cup of heavy cream to a boil and dropped the white chocolate mixture into the hot cream.

Finally, I used an immersion blender to mix the cream and white chocolate and get rid of the graininess. I added this mixture to the buttercream, and, guess what? It worked! In fact, my taste testers reported that the "frosting is amazing!"

P.S. For a quick and easy white chocolate dessert, be sure to try White Chocolate Muffins



Caramelized white chocolate




This year, the Cake Slice Bakers are baking from the book, The New Way to Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi, a competitor on the Great British Bake Off. Her blog is Carrot and Crumb.

I'm really excited about this book!





Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th we all post about our cake on our blogs.

There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes! Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes.

If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details. The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.


The New Way to Cake
It is a new year and a new book - The New Way To Cake - and our choices for January 2020 were ~

Blood Orange & Olive Oil Upside Down Cake
Spiced Sweet Potato Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting
Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream

Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream


Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream




This cake was amazing. After all of my issues with the frosting, it was totally worth the trouble. If the frosting frustrates you, just substitute some melted caramel and add it to the frosting.

One thing I did need was an 8 x 12 inch rectangular cake pan. I can't believe I had to buy a new pan!




Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream


Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream
Yield: 12 servings
Author:
This Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream is so gingery, moist, sweet, and delicious!

ingredients:

For the Cake
  • 200 grams unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons molasses
  • 3/4 cup corn syrup or golden syrup
  • 3 tablespoons stem ginger syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (220 grams) dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 3/4 cups (350 grams) all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of cloves
For the Caramelized White Chocolate
  • 250 grams chopped white chocolate
  • Pinch of salt
For the Frosting
  • 2/3 cup butter, room temperature
  • 200 grams (1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
  • 2/3 of the caramelized white chocolate

instructions:

How to cook Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream

To Make the Cake
  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
  2. Spray an 8 inch by 12 inch rectangle cake pan with spray oil and line it with parchment paper with some of the paper overhanging the sides of the pan.
  3. Melt the butter, molasses, corn syrup, stem ginger syrup, and vanilla in a saucepan. 
  4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar to dissolve. Let cool. 
  5. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour this mixture into the butter and molasses mixture. 
  6. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Sift the mixture into the butter/sugar mixture with a fine mesh sieve. 
  7. Beat briefly until combined. 
  8. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  9. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. 
To Make the Caramelized White Chocolate
  1. Heat the oven to 275 degrees F.
  2. Spread the white chocolate over a sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes. 
  3. Stir the chocolate and spread it over the pan and bake again for 10 minutes. 
  4. Continue to bake the chocolate, stirring every 10 minutes, for about an hour, until the chocolate becomes liquid-y and  caramelized. 
  5. Stir in the salt. 
To Make the Buttercream
  1. Beat the butter until fluffy and pale with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer.
  2. Add the powdered sugar and beat for 5 minutes. 
  3. Add 2/3 of the caramelized white chocolate and beat until the mixture is combined, about two minutes. 
  4. Spread the buttercream over the cooled cake. Drizzle the rest of the caramelized chocolate over each slice when serving. 
Calories
372.38
Fat (grams)
25.38
Sat. Fat (grams)
15.82
Carbs (grams)
35.67
Fiber (grams)
0.47
Net carbs
35.20
Sugar (grams)
24.15
Protein (grams)
2.39
Sodium (milligrams)
253.70
Cholesterol (grams)
76.79
gingerbread, cake, caramelized white chocolate
cake
English

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  1. Hah, I didn't go with this selection just because of that stem sugar syrup. Thanks for the tip on making my own.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cake seemed easy at first glance until I had to figure that one out!

      Delete
  2. That's amazing. Sorry you had to go to so much trouble with the frosting. Unfortunately if your family loves it, they may make you make it that way again!! Looks great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha! I'm going to have to find the good stuff!

      Delete
  3. Yes, white chocolate is so so tricky, you need the real best stuff to do the caramelized trick - but you turned a disaster into total bliss, so MORE POWER TO YOU!

    I have her cookbook, so I will be following your adventures as you guys bake from it - she was great on the show

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I was so frustrated but determined to make the best of it. Plus, I didn't want to throw out all of that chocolate. I wish her cookbook would have said that upfront rather than a postscript! And I'm very proud of my SAVE!

      Delete
  4. You made so many amazing gingery components for this cake! It sounds packed with flavor!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great save with the buttercream! Stem syrup is new to me but I am a ginger fan. I'll save this one for our end of the year free-for-all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've heard that if you use the good white chocolate there is no problem.

      Delete
  6. So many great hints! I just got a bunch of ginger in our produce box and will definitely be making this.

    ReplyDelete

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