Mini Gingerbread Cakes

Elevating the essence of festive indulgence, these individual Christmas cakes are a symphony of flavors and textures, encapsulating the warmth of the holiday season. The amalgamation cream cheese, sugar, and the aromatic seeds from a vanilla pod, harmoniously combined with the unique touch gingerbread-flavored quark, creates a blissful culinary experience. For those without gingerbread quark, a luxurious alternative of whipped cream infused with cinnamon, gingerbread spice, and cardamom offers an equally delightful substitution. Chilled to perfection in individual stainless steel cylinder molds, these enchanting cakes, adorned with black currants, a dusting of frosting sugar, and a sprig of thyme, are not merely desserts; they are a visual and culinary celebration of the season's magic. Perfectly portioned and visually captivating, these Christmas cakes transform any gathering into a memorable ode to festive indulgence.

Ingredients

Christmas cakes (makes 4 or 5 servings)

• 1 tub (200g) cream cheese

• 1 d sugar

• 1 tub (200g) gingerbread flavoured quark (if you don’t have this available in your country, whipped cream works too.)

• 3 gelatin leaves

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 vanilla pod

• black currants, frosting sugar and thyme twig for garnishing

• oil for brushing the sides of cake moulds

Directions

Individual stainless steal cylinder molds (like the ones you use for tartar) for creating the cake shape. In a large bowl add in the cream cheese, sugar, seeds from the vanilla pod and gingerbread flavoured quark. Gently mix. If you do not have quark, you can separately whip some cream until fluffy and mix that in. Flavour it with spices that you like, such as a teaspoon of cinnamon, gingerbread spice and cardamom.

Meanwhile add the gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes until they become soft. Heat a tablespoon of lemon juice on the stone and place the gelatine leaves into it. Before placing them into the lemon juice, squeeze the excess water away from them. Stir for a couple of seconds so the gelatine melts and place this into the bowl with all the other ingredients. Mix well.

Place a piece of aluminium foil on the bottom of each cake mould. Brush the sides with oil. Scoop some cake mixture into each mould. Place clingfilm on top of each one when finished. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, remove the clingfilm from top and place each cake on a little plate. The cake falls through the mould easily. Garnish with black currants, a little bit of frosting sugar and a thyme twig for visual affect.