Gingerbread community Christmas cake

Method

For the gingerbread cake:-

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Grease and line two deep 20cm round cake tins
2. Put the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a large bowl
3. In a separate bowl, mix the bicarb and milk
4. Put 250g of the butter in a pan with the syrup, treacle and brown sugar
5. Heat gently, stirring now and then, until smooth
6. Add to the flour and spices, mix until smooth, then stir in the milk mixture, along with the eggs
7. Pour into the lined tins and bake for 45-50 mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 mins before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack

For the icing:-

1. Beat the rest of the butter, then whisk in the icing sugar a little at a time
2. Add the white chocolate then mix until smooth
3. Split the cakes horizontally through the middle. Spread a sixth of the icing on the bottom half, top with the sponge, then repeat with the remaining two cakes 4. Cover with the remaining buttercream.

For the trees:-

1. Heat 50g of the caster sugar in 3 tbsp water in a small pan until dissolved
2. Dip in the rosemary, remove, sprinkle with the rest of the caster sugar, then leave to dry

For the gingerbread biscuits:-

1. Now make the gingerbread biscuits. Heat the unsalted butter, soft sugar and golden syrup in a pan until melted
2. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and the zest of ½ orange in a large bowl and pour over the butter mixture
3. Stir, then mix in the egg
4. Form into a ball, flatten and wrap in cling film, then chill for 30 mins
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4
6. On a surface dusted with flour, roll out half the dough to a thickness of 0.4cm
7. Cut into house and tree shapes
8. Bake for 10-12 mins, until just golden
9. Leave to cool on wire racks
10. Mix the icing sugar with 3 tsp boiling water to make a smooth paste
11. Spoon into a piping bag with a 0.3mm nozzle and decorate the houses and trees
12. Leave to set for 1 hour, then stick around the sides of the cake with the remaining icing and stick a few biscuits on top
13. Stick the Christmas 'trees' into the cake
14. Sprinkle on a little glitter and complete your village scene with snowpeople made out of white and coloured fondant, if you like

For the snowpeople:-

1. Roll the white fondant into small balls to form a body
2. Then decorate with eyes, noses, hats and scarves, using your choice of coloured fondant