Despite being a Christmas classic, traditional Christmas cake isn’t universally loved. Half of my family hate it.

So if like me, you consider other alternatives to fruit cake at Christmas, you could do worse than baking this gingerbread cake. Gingerbread is still suitably Christmassy and the maple buttercream means it feels indulgent. 

If your decorating skills are better than mine (which wouldn’t be hard), then you could make this cake look super festive. 

Recipe from Benjamina Ebuehi

Ingredients

Sponge

• 225g Unsalted butter
• 60g Treacle
• 200g light muscovado sugar
• 150g Golden syrup
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 50g Stem ginger, finely chopped plus syrup
• 2 Eggs
• 300ml Full fat milk
• 350g Plain flour
• 2 tsp Bicarbonate soda
• ½ tsp Baking powder
• 4 ½ tsp Ground ginger
• 3 tsp Ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp Allspice
• ½ tsp Salt
• 50ml Stem ginger syrup
• 3 tbsp Water

Maple Buttercream

• 250g Unsalted Butter, softened
• 180g Icing Sugar
• 50ml Maple Syrup

Instructions

1. Oven temperature: Gas Mark 4 / 180°C
2. Heat the butter, treacle, golden syrup and vanilla in a saucepan until melted. Whisk in the brown sugar and set aside to cool
3. In a separate jug, whisk together the milk and eggs. Pour this into the butter and sugar mixture and whisk until fully combined
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Make a well in the centre and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir until there are no large lumps
5. Divide the batter evenly between two 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins lined with Bacofoil® Non-Stick Baking Paper, and bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.
6. Whilst the cakes bake, heat the stem ginger syrup with 3 tbsp of water. Let it come to the boil before removing from the heat
7. Once the cakes are fully cooked, poke the surface with a skewer and pour over the hot syrup allowing it to soak through. Let the cakes cool before removing them from their tins and placing on a wire rack
8. When the layers are completely cool, wrap them in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to an hour to firm up. Once chilled, unwrap the cakes and use a sharp serrated knife to cut each layer into two so you have four layers in total. Set aside whilst you make the buttercream
9. To make the buttercream, beat softened butter for 3-4 minutes until pale and creamy. Add in icing sugar and continue to beat for another 5-6 minutes
10. Pour in the maple syrup and beat until fully incorporated
11. Assemble the cake by sandwiching each layer with some buttercream. When you get to the last layer place it cut side up, giving you a completely flat top. Cover the whole cake with a thin layer of buttercream for a semi-naked effect. Swirl some extra buttercream on the top of the cake before decorating.