Another year has passed. Rather quickly, if I may add. Although I will remember 2012 in good light, now is not the time to look back. It’s time to welcome the shiny future. May you have a bright and colorful 2013, filled with love, appreciation and joy. Wishing you a magnificent New year!

New Years mean new beginings and new opportunities. Meeting new people, trying out new things, changing your bad habits, making your life more simple or even more complicated. It can go both ways and the beauty of it is that you never really know what your decisions will ultimately bring you.

If you’ve decided to try new things, or make your life easier and stress free, then you’ve come to the right place. This moist chocolate gingerbread cake is one of the best things I’ve tried whole year. It’s also one of the simplest, easiest and probably healthiest cakes too. Every time I made it, at least five people asked for the recipe and were flaberghasted when they reaized it contains no eggs or fat whatsoever. The surprised look on their faces and disbelif in their eyes is hard to beat.

To make this cake, you’ll need a gingerbread spice mix. Gingerbread spice mix is a mix of spices traditionaly used in German Lebkuchen. It contains cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, corriander, cloves, cardamom, ginger, anise and star anise. You can easily make it yourself or use pumpkin spice mix instead. I do, however, recommend using the gingerbread spice mix as it gives the cake that special something.

Okay, the time has come to announce the giveaway winner! There were 19 comments all together, two of which are not eligible for the giveaway as they were posted after midnight. Are you ready to find out the lucky winner? Here it is:

#9 Andrea

“Espresso Macarons are my favorite! Great giveaway, and I LOVE the pictures you took, I really like the subtle petal on the paper matching de macarons tops.”

 Congratulations Andrea! You won a beautiful Sugar Baby ebook! You wll get an e-mail with all the details in a few days.

Thank you all for participating!

Recept na hrvatskom

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Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

Serves 8-10
Prep time: 15min
Cook time: 20min
Total time: 35min
Difficulty: Basic

Category: Cakes

Gingerbread spice mix is mix of spices traditionaly used in German Lebkuchen. It contains cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, corriander, cloves, cardamom, ginger, anise and star anise. You can easily make it yourself or you can use pumpkin spice mix instead. You could also substitute plum jam with cherry or apricot jam.

For the Gingerbread cake:

Ingredients

3 cups flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 heaped tablespoon gingerbread spice mix (lebkuchengewuerz)
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
7 tablespoons plum jam
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons plum jam + 1 tablespoon rum for glazing the cake)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 30x30cm baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. Add plum jam and slowly pour in milk. Whisk until smooth and well incorporated.
Transfer to baking pan and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool, then remove from baking pan and place on a tray.
In a small pot combine plum jam and rum and cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the jam is thin and bubbling. Brush the top of the cake with the mixture of jam and rum and set aside.

For the Chocolate glaze:

Ingredients

100g bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons neutral oil

Directions

Melt the chocolate and oil on a double boiler (bain-marie). Remove from heat and leave it to cool for 5 minutes and then pour over the cake. Smooth the glaze using a long thin knife. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set, cut into cubes or squares and serve.

Author: Monika Topolko

 

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