Honey & Ginger Cake With Lemon & Honey Buttercream {DF & GF}
I’m sharing a pretty special recipe with you today and can I say it’s delicious. It’s a Honey & Ginger Cake with Lemon & Honey Buttercream!!! If you are not a ginger fan can I implore you to stop in your tracks of wiping this recipe off and give it a go. It really has the most delicious flavour in combination with the honey in the cake and offset with the beautiful Lemon & Honey Buttercream. It quite easily is my new favourite cake! That is saying a lot when I am a true chocolate cake lover at heart. What really got me was the combination of softened vanilla ice cream with crushed ginger nut biscuits peppered through out and gently mixed through. This is refrozen and gently scooped out on top of the cake just before serving! Amazing!
Also I had SO much fun photographing this cake because it’s been such a long time since I had time to just play. So play I did. I had a couple of hours up my sleeve and I just had a relaxing afternoon putting this cake together and setting the scene for me to take the photo. I did have a little interruption with a little helper giving me a hand near the end of the shoot. Miss A helped taste test the cake and ended up helping out washing the dishes (and most of the floor) from the shoot. She had so much fun playing in the sink that I think it took her over half and hour to get what I would get washed in 10 minutes. I wasn’t complaining it kept her quiet though.
The reason I made this cake was I was so inspired from a recipe I came across in the Woolworths Fresh Magazine. They had a Honey Ginger Cake featured in their November issue which encouraged the reader to make and send in a pic of their creation. Well I wanted to make my own version that catered for those with food allergies. I mean I want to eat something as delicious as this too without a bellyache. So my recipe is a alteration of their original recipe with allergy friendly swaps.
I entered my image into the competition and I hope they can see that doing an allergy friendly version can taste just as good! Can I just say this cake goes down extremely well with a hot cup of tea. Perfection!
Ginger & Honey Cake With Lemon & Ginger Buttercream
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients (Serves 12)
- 500ml vanilla coconut milk icecream, softened
- 75g gluten free gingernut biscuits, crushed + extra for serving
- 300g dairy free margarine or coconut oil
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 6 eggs ( or egg alternative, see cooks notes)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour ( see cooks notes)
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal (can sub ground sunflowers)
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 250g coconut yoghurt
- 400g dairy-free margarine
- zest & juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup honey
- 4 cups icing sugar
Instructions
In a large bowl add the softened vanilla coconut ice cream along with the crushed gingernuts. Stir briefly to combine and place back into the container and freeze overnight or for at least 2-3 hours until firm. Remove and let it soften slightly and scoop out 3-4 large round scoops of ice cream to decorate the top of the cake. Place these scoops onto a tray or in a container and place back into the freezer to firm up in preparation for decorating.
Ginger Honey CakePreheat the oven to 160C (fan bake). Grease and line a 3 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer add the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the honey and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the eggs one at a time with the beaters running on low, beating until combined between each egg.
Combine the gluten-free all-purpose flour, almond meal, baking powder and ground ginger together in a separate bowl. Mix gently to combine. Add 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to the batter.
Add half the dry flour mix to the batter along with half the coconut yoghurt. Mixing to combine. Repeat with the reaming flour and yoghurt and mix on low until combined.
Divide the cake mixture evenly between the three cake pans and place into the oven to bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. Trim the top of the cake if necessary to create three flat layers.
Lemon & Honey ButtercreamIn the bowl of an electric mixer add the dairy-free margarine and beat until light and fluffy. Add the honey and beat for a further minute until combined. Sift in the icing sugar and gently mix to combine.
Beat the buttercream mixture for 3-4 minutes and then add the lemon juice and zest and beat for a further minute or so until combined.
Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place into the fridge until needed.
AssemblyAdd a dollop of the Lemon & Honey Buttercream to the serving plate or stand and press the bottom layer of cake onto the buttercream to secure in place. Add 1/3 cup of buttercream to the top of the base layer and spread evenly over the top with an offset spatula.
Place the second layer on top and press down gently. Add another 1/3 cup of icing and repeat the process until the top layer is in place and has been covered with icing.
Spread a thin layer of icing around the edges of the cake and place into the freezer to firm up for 15-20 minutes. Add the rest of the icing around the top and edges of the cake.
Just before serving top with the scoops of gingernut icecream to the top of the cake and finish with a sprinkling of extra crushed or whole gingernuts on top of the cake. To finish drizzle the entire top of the cake with honey.
Serve immediately.
Cooks Notes- For an egg alternative, you can use 12 tbsp of reduced aquafaba (chickpea liquid) instead of the eggs. This helps bind the cake together. If you have another favourite egg alternative use that.
- I recommend using Bob Mills All Purpose Gluten Free flour for all gluten-free baking. The finished result is always superior to supermarket brands of gluten-free flour. You can find this in some supermarkets, health food shops or online.
- To make this nut-free simple use ground up sunflower seeds instead of almond meal.
