Kim-Joy Hewlett

Why it earned the handshake

Kim-Joy’s cake is a small tent in itself: three dark ginger sponges, cold pears standing upright, salted caramel slipping over the frosting, and a gingerbread house for the top. The source is an official GBBO recipe, so the quantities and the charming construction stay close to the published method. Take the cold work seriously and the whole thing becomes much less wild.

Ingredients

Pears and sponges

• 3 conference pears, peeled with stems intact
• 40g dark muscovado sugar
• 1 star anise
• 2 pieces cinnamon bark
• 15ml vanilla paste
• 3 green cardamom pods
• Water, to cover the pears
• 250g slightly salted butter
• 250g dark muscovado sugar
• 120g treacle
• 375g plain flour
• 15ml ground cinnamon
• 60ml ground ginger
• 300ml whole milk
• 10ml bicarbonate of soda
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 100g crystallised ginger, chopped

Caramel, gingerbread, frosting, and icing

• 120g caster sugar
• 115ml double cream
• 2.5ml salt
• 75g slightly salted butter
• 50g dark muscovado sugar
• 5ml molasses
• 23ml beaten egg
• 110g plain flour
• 1.3ml bicarbonate of soda
• 3.8ml ground cinnamon
• 15ml ground ginger
• 1 boiled sweet, crushed
• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 280g full-fat cream cheese
• 600g icing sugar
• 100g walnuts, chopped
• 30ml pasteurised egg white
• 100g icing sugar

Method

1. Put the pears in a pan with the muscovado sugar, star anise, cinnamon, vanilla, and cardamom. Add enough water to cover, bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes until tender but not soft. Drain, cool, and trim the bases so the pears stand.
2. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Melt the butter, muscovado sugar, and treacle in a pan until the sugar dissolves. Sift the flour, cinnamon, and ginger into a bowl. Warm the milk, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda, and let it foam.
3. Whisk the warm butter mixture into the flour. Add the eggs and crystallised ginger, then the foaming milk. Divide immediately among three lined 8-inch tins and bake for 25–35 minutes, until risen and clean when tested. Cool for 5 minutes in the tins, then turn out.
4. For the caramel, put the caster sugar and 45ml water in a pan. Cook without stirring until amber, swirling the pan. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, then the salt. Cool and refrigerate until cold.
5. Make the gingerbread dough by creaming the butter, dark sugar, and molasses. Beat in the egg, then mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, and ginger. Chill for 20 minutes.
6. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan. Roll the dough to ½cm thick. Cut two ends, two side walls, and two roof pieces for a small house, adding a window and door to one end. Put the crushed sweet in the window and bake for 6–8 minutes. Cool until hard.
7. Beat the frosting butter and cream cheese just together, then beat in the icing sugar until thick and smooth. Whisk the egg white until frothy and stir in the second icing sugar quantity to make royal icing. Use it to assemble and decorate the biscuit house.
8. Trim the sponges. Pipe one third of the frosting over the first sponge and add half the walnuts. Repeat with the second sponge, reserving a few walnuts. Finish with the third sponge, the remaining frosting, a spoonful of caramel, the pears, the house, and the reserved walnuts.

Baker’s tips

• Stop poaching while the pears still have a little backbone; they continue to soften as they cool.
• Divide the sponge batter quickly after adding the bicarbonate-and-milk mixture so the lift is shared evenly.
• Assemble the house only when the biscuits are cold. Warm biscuit walls are brave in theory and floppy in practice.

Make-ahead

The sponges, pears, caramel, and gingerbread pieces can be made ahead. Frost and assemble the cake on the day, once the caramel is cold and the cakes are level.