Recipe: Gingerbread White Chocolate and Caramel Slice

Fri, 26 Nov, 2021 - 10:52

Mercy

"This treat is as light as a feather. With a delicate flavour of caramel and white chocolate finished off with the oomph of gingerbread, it is delicious, decadent and definitely a possibility for a Christmas dessert," said Mercy Fenton, whose column runs in The Echo every Wednesday. "A light gingerbread with a reduced amount of treacle, this can be made a day in advance."

Step 1 Base

Ingredients

115gr plain flour

1/2 tsp bread soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

30gr butter at room temperature

70gr Demerara sugar

32gr treacle

82gr golden syrup

75ml boiling water

30gr free-range egg

Method:

Lightly grease and line a 9-inch spring form tin with parchment paper.
Pre-heat oven to 175C.
Put the Demerara, treacle, golden syrup, butter and boiling water in a jug and stir to melt butter and sugar, allow to cool a bit before adding the egg (as you don’t want to cook it)
Sieve the remaining dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the bowl as you would for pancakes and pour on the liquid, whisking all the time, bringing in the dry ingredients slowly until you have a smooth, lump-free batter.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake until golden and firm to the touch, about 25 to 35 minutes.
Allow to cooling fully, then turn out onto wire rack.
Once cooled, cut a thin slice horizontally to use for the base of the slice. This is far more than you need so eat or freeze the rest for other Christmassy recipes.
The next layer is the white chocolate mousse, but prepare the caramel first.

Step 2 Caramel

Ingredients

125gr sugar

25gr water

80ml cream - warmed

5gr maldon sea salt (optional)

Method:

Meanwhile, cook 125gr of sugar and the water to caramel.
Cooking the sugar to caramel: Be very careful, as caramel burns are very serious.
Get ready a small bowl of ice water and a clean pastry brush.
Put the sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed pan (choose a pan slightly larger than you think you need and ideally with high sides) and cook over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Turn up heat, the syrup will begin to boil rapidly.
Sugar crystals may form at the side of the pan; brush these down carefully with the ice-cold water and a pastry brush, be very careful doing this to ensure the sugar does not splatter.
When the sugar begins to caramelize, swirl the pan gently to disperse the heat.
When you tilt the pan, the liquid should be a rich caramel colour, be brave enough to cook it to quite a deep colour (if you smell burn, you need to start again). Once your caramel is cooked remove from the heat.
Carefully add the warmed cream and cook for a minute or two more stirring well to remove lumps.
Weigh 60gr into a small bowl for the caramel cream and keep the rest separate.

Step 3

White chocolate mousse

Ingredients

88gr white chocolate drops

66ml pouring cream

177ml cream for whipping to soft peaks

1 leaf of gelatin

Method:

Soak the gelatin in cold water.
Boil the pouring cream.
Lift the gelatin out of the water and squeeze away the excess water, add soaked gelatin to the boiled cream and stir until dissolved.
Pour the cream mixture onto white chocolate, stir until smooth and melted.
Allow to cool until it is nearly set in the fridge.
Remember to stir occasionally, using spatula.
Meanwhile, whip cream to soft peaks.
When chocolate mixture is nearly set, fold in whipped cream.
Fill into the spring-form tin until it comes up halfway, level on top and refrigerate.

Step 4 Caramel cream layer

Ingredients

112gr cream cheese

75gr sugar

60gr prepared caramel

1¼ leaves gelatine

20ml water

175ml cream

50gr white chocolate

Method:

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pot of boiled water – ensure bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
Once melted, set aside.
Soak the gelatine in cold water to soften.
Using spade attachment of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar, - scrape down sides.
Once it’s smooth, mix in the melted white chocolate and beat again to mix in.
Lift the gelatine from cold water and squeeze to remove excess water.
Dissolve the gelatine in the boiled water and add to the caramel.
Add the dissolved gelatine to the cream cheese, mix well.
Place the cheese mix in the fridge and whip the cream to soft peaks.
Allow the cream cheese mix to nearly set in the fridge, when it is slightly wobbly fold in the whipped cream.
Scrape the mix into the tin, then swirl one or two tablespoons of the extra caramel over the top and scrape gently to spread.
Refrigerate until set, then serve with a little ice cream or whipped cream.
To serve, you can decorate with some white chocolate curls if you wish.