Orange Gingerbread Cake

Soak 1 Gelatine leaf in a Measuring cup with cold water.

Pour 150 g full cream into a pot and grate the zest of 3 oranges straight into it (with large oranges 2 are enough). A fine Grater is the quickest way to do this.

Add ½ tsp orange Liquid aroma. It brings out the orange flavour in the ganache, which would otherwise be lost next to the Gingerbread spice. Set the mixture aside.

Squeeze 65 g orange juice, that is about 2 oranges. Keep it in the Measuring cup, it goes in only later.

Put 40 g white chocolate into a Bowl and warm it for 30 seconds at 600 watts. It will not be fully melted yet, and that is correct: the hot cream will do the rest.

Bring the cream with zest and Liquid aroma to the boil. Take it off the heat, squeeze the Gelatine leaf well and stir it in until it has dissolved completely.

Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate in three portions and stir well after each addition. This way the mixture comes together instead of splitting.

Once the chocolate has melted completely, pour in the 65 g orange juice and mix everything with the Whisk. For a really smooth ganache, go through it briefly with the immersion blender afterwards.

Lay a piece of cling film directly on the surface so no skin forms, and put the ganache in the fridge overnight.

Really stick to this time: a ganache chilled too briefly will curdle as soon as you whip it.

Take the butter out of the fridge about 20 minutes beforehand. Put 85 g of room-temperature butter and 80 g of sugar into the Mixing bowl and beat both for 5 minutes on the highest setting until fluffy: the mixture will turn almost white.

Now preheat the oven to 160 °C fan.

Crack the 3 eggs into a Measuring cup: this makes them easier to pour in gradually later. Add them little by little to the beaten mixture while the machine runs on the lowest setting. Once they are all in, increase to the medium setting and mix for another 30 seconds.

Add 85 g of ground hazelnuts and 70 g of flour, then 3 g of Baking powder. For such small amounts, the spoon scale is worth its weight in gold.

Finally, add 2 tbsp of Gingerbread spice: with the Measuring spoons it comes out exactly right. Mix everything for 30 seconds at medium speed. The mixture is now ready.

We use the «Kyoto 800» mould from Silikomart, the one with the insert for the centre. Spray the mould and insert generously with Non-stick spray.

Take the insert out for this and spray it separately: that's the only way to reach every spot, and this is exactly where unmoulding otherwise goes wrong.

Pour part of the batter into the tin, only to just below the height where the insert sits. Then put the insert in place and add the remaining batter.

Smooth the surface with the small angled spatula and bake the cake for 40 minutes in the middle of the preheated oven at 160 °C fan.

Then insert a knife into the centre: if the blade comes out dry, it is done. Otherwise, give it another 2 to 3 minutes.

Let the cake rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes. First pull out the insert, then release the cake from the tin. Place it on a cake rack and let it cool completely.

Pour the cold orange Ganache into a large Bowl and whip it with the machine's Whisk on medium speed until it has the texture of whipped cream.

It rises quickly, so stay with it and keep an eye on it, otherwise it will curdle.

Stand the Piping bag in a Measuring cup, then fill it neatly. Cut off the tip with the scissors.

Fill the channel in the middle of the cake with the orange Ganache. Then tap the cake gently so the Ganache spreads everywhere.

Some Ganache will be left over, which you need for the decoration, so put it back in the fridge. The cake now goes into the freezer for 15 minutes so that it is really cold for the icing.

Put 185 g of Milk chocolate into a Bowl and place it in the microwave for 30 seconds at 600 watts. Stir well, then another 30 seconds. It should reach 43 to 45 °C: with the Infrared thermometer you can check that in a second.

Add the 50 g of Milk chocolate, stir well and let it melt into the warm mixture. After that add ½ tsp of Gingerbread spice.

Pour 65 g of rapeseed oil into the chocolate and stir until the oil is fully combined. Finally add 65 g of Hazelnut brittle: that is the crunch in the icing. Transfer everything into a large Measuring cup.

Take the cake out of the freezer and place it on a Cake rack, with a plate underneath, so you catch the dripping icing and can reuse it.

Pour the icing over the cake, all the way around. Let it drip briefly, then lift the cake onto a platter with a large Angled spatula. Into the fridge for 15 minutes so the icing sets.

Fit a 9 mm St-Honoré Piping nozzle into a large Piping bag and fill in the rest of the orange Ganache. Pipe it in a wave pattern over the cake.

Place a few Milk chocolate pearls on top: with precision tweezers you hit exactly the spot you mean. Finally add a few orange strips.