White chocolate AND dark chocolate drizzled over a sweet and spicy ginger cake? This decadent dessert not only tastes delicious, it looks like a work of art!
The queen of chocolate, Kirsten Tibballs joined The Morning Show to share how to prepare this treat from her latest book, Chocolate All Day.
Ginger swirl cake with white & dark chocolate marbled glaze
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SERVES 10–12
PERFECT FOR: ENTERTAINING, SPECIAL OCCASIONS
SKILL LEVEL: ACCOMPLISHED
GINGER PREPARATION
225 g (8 oz) fresh ginger
700 ml (24 fl oz) water
300 g (10½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
GINGER CAKE
235 g (8½ oz) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons plain (all-purpose) flour
200 g (7 oz) muscovado sugar
50 g (1¾ oz) black treacle
150 g (5½ oz) golden syrup (light treacle)
100 g (3½ oz) whole eggs, lightly beaten
300 ml (10½ fl oz) full-cream milk ginger matchsticks, above, or 220 g (7¾ oz) store-bought stem ginger slices cut into matchsticks
50 ml (1½ fl oz) ginger syrup, above, or 50 ml (1½ fl oz) syrup from store-bought stem ginger
365 g (12¾ oz) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
CHOCOLATE GLAZE
800 g (1 lb 12 oz) good-quality white chocolate
150 g (5½ oz) good-quality dark chocolate
100 ml (3½ fl oz) grapeseed oil
Peel the ginger before thinly slicing into matchsticks.
Combine the water and ginger in a medium saucepan and simmer, with the lid on, for approximately 2½ hours, until the ginger is tender.
Strain the ginger over a bowl and reserve the liquid.
Pour 300 ml (10½ fl oz) of the ginger-infused water into a saucepan over high heat. If too much of the liquid evaporated during the simmering process, make up the difference by adding more water.
Add the sugar and bring to the boil.
Once the sugar has completely dissolved, add the strained ginger and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool at room temperature.
Once cool, store the ginger and syrup in an airtight container in the fridge until required. (If you do not wish to prepare the ginger for the cake, simply use store-bought stem ginger in syrup, cutting the ginger into fine matchsticks.)
For the cake, preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F) fan-forced.
Melt 15 g (½ oz) of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Brush the melted butter over the inside of a bundt tin, 22 cm (8½ inches) in diameter and 10 cm (4 inches) deep. Add the plain flour and rotate the tin until the inside is coated with flour, then tap out any excess flour and set aside.
In a clean saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining butter, the sugar, treacle and golden syrup. Stir until the ingredients have melted and combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and leave to cool slightly at room temperature.
Add the beaten eggs and milk and whisk to combine.
Add the ginger matchsticks, ginger syrup, self-raising flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda and gently fold them through.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40–45 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Leave the cake to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before removing from the tin. Place the cake on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Once cool, wrap the cake in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 3 hours, or overnight.
For the glaze, temper the white chocolate by placing it in a microwave-safe plastic bowl and heating it in the microwave on high in 30-second increments, stirring in between. Once you have 50% solids and 50% liquid, stir vigorously until the solids have completely melted. If you have some resistant buttons, you can gently heat the chocolate with a hair dryer, while stirring, until melted.
Repeat this tempering process with the dark chocolate in a separate bowl.
Add 80 ml (2½ fl oz) of the grapeseed oil to the white chocolate, and the remaining grapeseed oil to the dark chocolate, mixing to combine.
Transfer the chocolate mixtures to a jug, alternating the white and dark to create layers (see photo overleaf).
Place the chilled cake on a wire rack over a tray with sides, and pour the glaze over the cake.
Using a sharp knife, trim the glaze from around the base of the cake before the chocolate becomes too firm.
Transfer the cake to a serving plate and place in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.
The ginger cake can be frozen for up to 8 weeks before it is glazed. Bring it back to room temperature before glazing. Store the glazed cake at room temperature for up to 5 days.
FOR BEST RESULTS
When glazing, it’s handy to have someone stand on the other side of the cake to make sure the glaze is covering the entire surface.
Glaze the cake as quickly as possible so that the glaze sets as one piece where it overlaps. To buy some more time, gently warm the cake surface with a hair dryer, so the chocolate will take longer to set.
NEXT LEVEL
For an added pop of colour, you can replace some of the dark chocolate with additional white chocolate that you have coloured with oil-soluble colour powder. You still need a bit of the dark chocolate for contrast.
The cake can be made in any shaped tin, but you may need to adjust the baking time.