Gingerbread Castle Cake Recipes

GINGERBREAD CASTLE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Generously grease and lightly flour Nordic Ware® Castle Bundt® cake pan, or spray pan with baking spray with flour.
• Make batter as directed on cake mix box. Pour batter into pan.
• Bake 34 to 43 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, trim cake even with top of pan, if necessary. Turn pan upside down onto cooling rack; remove pan. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Place cake on 12- to 15-inch serving plate, tray or piece of cardboard covered with foil. Place melted chocolate chips in small resealable food-storage plastic bag; cut off tiny corner of bag. Pipe melted chocolate on cake to outline door and window panes.
• Using small amount of frosting, attach round candies to 4 candy sticks; let dry. Place remaining frosting in corner of small microwavable resealable food-storage plastic bag. Seal bag; microwave on High 10 seconds. Cut off tiny corner of bag. Pipe frosting to decorate roof, tops of towers and windows. Decorate top and sides of castle with gumdrops. Place candy sticks (topped with round candies) on top of each tower; drizzle tops with frosting if desired. Add 2 spearmint leaves to front entrance. Roll remaining spearmint leaf and shape into wreath shape; attach to door with small amount of frosting. Decorate wreath and entrance with candy sprinkles as desired. Sprinkle edible glitter around entire castle and over top of castle to look like snow. Store loosely covered.

GINGERBREAD CASTLE

Steps:

• GINGERBREAD CASTLE:.
• **For my gingerbread structures, I like to build their general shape out of cardboard first. This is a great way to address any structural issues before it's too late. They also give you an amazing stencil to use to cut out your cookie shapes and then later they're great for preventing any mess when you're pouring candy glass windows into your finished cookies.
• In a stand mixer beat butter and sugar until creamy, add molasses and eggs. In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Once done slowly mix into wet ingredients and stir until dough ball forms. Wrap softball sized portions in foil and chill until ready to use.
• Heat oven to 360 degrees fahrenheit.
• Line cookie sheets with parchment and roll dough directly onto cookie sheets. Using flour to prevent sticking. Cut out shapes using homemade stencils and save scraps for the next sheet.
• Baking time varies depending on how large your cookie is. Large cookies can take 18 minutes and small decorative pieces can be done in as little as 5 minutes. So keep an eye on them. Once baked, remove from oven (and here's my secret to getting a smooth cookie -- immediately after removing a batch from the oven, place a sheet of parchment over the top and using a slightly smaller baking sheet press, slide and swivel the smaller sheet on top until perfect. Allow cookies to cool before removing and place on paper towels. Do any candy glass windows BEFORE assembling.
• Advice and pointers: Assembling is my personal favorite part, but be sure to have a lot of patience and go slowly. Don't let go of any pieces unless you're positive they're secure and if you're unsure, use various kitchen items as supports -- things get pretty jenky in my kitchen during this process. Know that cookies will break here and there, make extra of critical pieces if you have the time and keep in mind you're doing something fun and when things go wrong, it's just a lesson for the future -- at least that's what I tell myself when I'm facing a kitchen catastrophe :D.
• CANDY GLASS:.
• Mix sugar, water, corn syrup and tartar in a large pot on medium/high heat. Stir constantly until mixture begins to boil. Stop stirring and place candy thermometer on the edge of the pot with the temp gauge submerged into sugar syrup. This part takes FOREVER (20 or so minutes) so set up a chair next to the stove and grab a magazine/book/laptop and keep an eye on the thermometer. Allow to heat to 300 degrees and immediately remove from heat. Stir and mix in two drops blue food coloring. Have cookies clean and resting face up on a very flat surface covered in a aluminum foil. Use your cardboard stencil over your cookie and pour candy glass into your cutouts using a bent tea spoon or small ladle. Once poured, immediately lift stencil off and clear any sugar strands that occur.
• Advice and pointers: This is one of those things you should set a lot of time aside for and prepare yourself with a lot of patience. Having a plate warmer to set the pot of hot sugar on near your workstation is a great way to give yourself a bit more time to work with each batch. Depending on how many windows you have to do, you'll be needing to make several batches. As soon as one batch begins to harden, you need to cut your losses and discard it (I've learned this the hard way). This stuff is also INSANELY hot so be very careful and make sure no pets, children or other obstacles are around when working with candy glass!
• ROYAL ICING for GINGERBREAD CASTLE:.
• ( I made this batch probably 6 times throughout the project).
• In a stand mixer beat egg whites till frothy and incorporate sugar until smooth. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients little bits at a time until the color you desire is achieved.
• Advice and pointers: Because you're using raw egg whites and salmonella is a risk, always use fresh eggs from a reliable source and don't allow unused frosting to sit out for more than an hour or so. Any unused frosting can be covered with a damp towel to prevent drying and retain freshness. Keep in mind the longer you work with a single batch the darker the color will become, so when initially mixing, keep that in mind.
• ROYAL ICING FOR HOLLY, WREATHS AND CHRISTMAS TREES:.
• Using any used gingerbread dough, cut out and shape christmas trees and bake. Using a small star tip (I actually bent mine with a small hammer to get the perfect shape) pipe royal icing all over giver bread and decorate with sugar beads which you'll then need to tediously paint.

CHRISTINA'S CINDERELLA'S CASTLE CAKE

Steps:

• To make the cake base: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease a 9 by 9-inch cake pan.
• Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and scrape into the prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and let cool completely.
• To make the towers: Generously grease the cans with shortening. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Divide the batter among the cans, filling them not more than halfway. Bake until a cake tester, wooden skewer or raw piece of spaghetti inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes for the smaller cans and 1 1/4 hours for the large can. Place on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. Turn the cakes out of the cans and let cool completely.
• To prepare the frosting: Put 2 tubs of frosting in a mixing bowl and add blue food coloring until it reaches the desired shade. Set aside. Divide the remaining tub of frosting between 2 bowls and color 1 purple and 1 pink. Set aside.
• To assemble the cake: Place the square cake on a platter and cover with blue frosting. Use a serrated knife to trim the tower cakes so the tops are flat. Cover the towers with blue frosting. Set the large tower on the center of the base cake and then set 1 of the smaller towers on top of it, securing with 1 or 2 straws or skewers. Set 1 small tower on each side of the large one, securing them to the base cake with a straw or skewer (cut to fit as needed).
• Cover the sugar cones with purple icing and place open-side down on top of each tower. Use a spatula to smooth out the frosting on the cakes or cones.
• Fill the pastry bag with pink icing and pipe a border around the edges of the cake. Insert lollipops around the edge of the base cake to make a fence. Set the doll in front of the main tower and scatter the sprinkles over all.

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin, molasses and orange zest (mixture will appear curdled)., In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt and chili pepper. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Stir in pumpkin seeds., Pour batter into a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 28-32 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with toppings as desired.

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch springform cake pan, then dust it with flour, tapping out any excess.Sift or whisk the flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, mustard, pepper, and baking soda together in a large bowl and set aside.In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.Add the brown sugar to the bowl of the mixer, and continue to mix on medium-high speed.
• To the butter and sugar, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each addition. Add the molasses and melted chocolate to the mixing bowl, mixing well to incorporate.To the mix, alternate adding the wet (espresso) and dry (flour) until everything has been incorporated.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 40 minutes.
• While the cake is baking, prepare the icing. In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan set over very low heat, melt the chocolate and cream together. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
• Remove the cake from the oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the cake from the pan, invert it onto a wide platter, and spread the icing across the top, letting the chocolate drip down the sides. Cut into pieces and serve to your guests.

GINGERBREAD CAKE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine the water and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with molasses mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking pan., Bake at 350° for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped topping.

GINGERBREAD CAKE WITH LEMON GLAZE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
• Whisk flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and Chinese five-spice powder in a bowl.
• Stir sugar, molasses, oil, and egg into flour mixture until just combined.
• Pour in boiling water and whisk until the batter is smooth and shiny, about 1 minute.
• Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Tap pan gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
• Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a bowl until sugar dissolves.
• Pour lemon juice mixture over cake while cake is still hot. Spread the mixture around with a spatula to ensure even distribution. Let cake cool completely before serving.