Hey everyone,

Tomorrow is the last day of Blogmas :( but lets enjoy it whilst we can!! Enjoy! xx

Ingredients:

150ml of Full-Fat Milk
3 tbsp. of Black Treacle
225ml of Vegetable Oil
375g of Plain Flour
3 tsp. of Baking Powder
1 and 1/2 of Bicarbonate of Soda
375g of Light Brown Soft Sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp.  of Ground Cinnamon
1 and 1/2 tsp. of Ground Ginger
30ml of Buttermilk
3 Large Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp. of Vanilla Extract

350g of Lightly Salted Butter
600g of Icing Sugar
300g of Full-fat Cream Cheese
2 tsp. of Vanilla Bean Extract
200g of Smooth Caramelised Biscuit Spread
50g of Desiccated Coconut
Edible Silver Glitter
Gingerbread shapes (Gingerbread men, etc.)

Measure the milk and treacle in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer, and stir well to combine, set aside to cool. Grease 3 20cm Loose Bottomed tins.

Preheat the oven to 180 C/160 Fan/ Gas Mark 4.

Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and spices into a large bowl, then add 1/2 tsp. of fine salt. Mix the dry ingredients together with a large whisk; if there are any lumps of sugar, squeeze them through your fingers until you have an even, sandy-textured mixture.

In a jug, whisk the oil, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Add the milk and treacle mixture, and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and whisk into a smooth batter. Divide between the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. You may have to swap the cakes over to cook evenly, but don’t do this until they’ve had at least 20 minutes cooking. Cool the cakes in their tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, you can wrap the sponges in cling film and store in a cool place for 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

To make the icing, put the butter and half the icing sugar in a large bowl. Mash together roughly with a spatula, then whizz with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar, the cream cheese, vanilla bean extract and biscuit spread. Mix again until smooth and evenly mixed. Transfer half the icing to another bowl and set aside. Use the remaining icing to stack the cakes and cover the entire outside in a thin layer – don’t worry about making the cake look too neat at this stage, as any crumbs trapped in the icing will be covered in the final coat. Chill the cake for 30 minutes and the remaining icing for 20 minutes (remove the icing from the fridge 10 minutes before the cake to soften a little).

When the icing on the cake is firm, remove it from the fridge and use the remaining icing to cover the cake. Smooth the sides using a palette knife, but leave peaks and dips on top for your snow scene. Top the cake generously with desiccated coconut, a dusting of sieved icing sugar and some edible glitter, if you like, then decorate the top and sides with gingerbread shapes. If you’re not eating the cake within a few hours, store it in the fridge, but bring back to room temperature before serving. The cake will keep for 2 days.

So, I hope you all enjoyed this post, and I will see you all again tomorrow, for the last day of Blogmas :(

Love Lou
xxxx