Spicy Gingerbread, Cointreau and Chocolate Eccles Cakes
How to make Spicy Gingerbread, Cointreau and Chocolate Eccles Cakes Recipe - Recently, a high-provle celebrity chef in the UK made Christmas fruit mince pies with puff pastry and pine needle icing sugar to sprinkle on after baking. When I tested them, I was disappointed to discover that the pine needle scent disappeared right after sprinkling. This spurred me into thinking how I would have made them, and here is the result – a gingerbread puff pastry encasing a spicy Eccles filling with a touch of chocolate and Cointreau. Delicious! Recipe from Dean Brettschneider
MAKES 9 ECCLES CAKES
PASTRY:
1 quantity of Gingerbread Puff Pastry
FILLING:
250g currants
100ml Cointreau
25g butter, softened
70g soft brown sugar
80g cake crumbs (any cake crumbs will do)
75g dark chocolate drops
30g golden syrup
½ tsp mixed spice
zest and juice of 1 lemon
200g caster sugar, for dipping
Method:
Make Gingerbread Puff Pastry ahead and rest it as required.
In a bowl, soak the currants with the Cointreau overnight to macerate and ensure the currants become plump and juicy. The next day, place the butter and brown sugar into a bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until soft and creamy, but not light and fluffy. Add the macerated currants and remaining ingredients except the caster sugar, and mix until well combined. You may need to adjust the consistency by adding a few more cake crumbs until you have a soft but firm filling.
On a lightly floured surface, gently roll out the puff pastry to approximately 4mm thick and then cut into 9 × 10cm squares. Place one heaped tablespoon of the filling into the centre of each square. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, lightly brush the edges of each square and then bring each corner of pastry into the centre and pinch together, then gather in the remaining pastry and secure to completely enclose the filling.
Using the palm of your hand slightly flatten each pie and turn over so that the scrunched side is flat on the bench. Lightly roll out to achieve a 7–8cm-diameter circle. Brush the tops and sides with water and dip into caster sugar, ensuring an even coating. Arrange them on a baking paper-lined oven tray and cut two vent holes into the top of each one with a sharp knife. Allow the cakes to rest for at least 1 hour.
Bake in a preheated 210–220°C oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the sugar has become golden-brown and has just started to caramelise. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
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