3D Gingerbread Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
How lovely are your branches......

Really  lovely because they are made from scrumptiously spicy gingerbread with a topping of orange-flavoured "snow" . Made using the Christmas Tree Cake Mould as below from Lake Land.

Ingredients:

• 60g butter
• 60g dark muscovado sugar
• 50g golden syrup
• 50g black treacle
• 120g self-rising flour
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 egg, beaten
• 60ml milk

To decorate: 

• 200g icing sugar, sifted
• ½ tsp orange extract
• Scrumptious Christmas 100s and 1000s

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C for fan oven. Lightly grease the mould and set aside.

Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle into a saucepan and gently heat until the mixture has melted. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to cool slightly.

Sift flour and ground ginger into a large mixing bowl. Pour the cooled butter and sugar mixture into the flour, add the eggs and milk and mix together until well combined.

Pour the gingerbread cake mixture into all of the indents in the mould, filling each one three-quarter full.

Place in the oven and bake for 20-22 minuted or until firm and skewer inserted into the middles of the largest of the filled moulds comes out clean. Leave to cool completely, then remove the cakes from the mould.

Mix together the icing sugar and the orange extract, and add enough water to make the icing runny enough to pipe but stiff enough that it doesn't run ( about 6 tbsp). Add your icing into a disposable pipping bag fitted with a small round nozzle.

To assemble the cake, start off with the round cake piece as the base of the tree. Pipe a little icing onto the top to hold the next layer in place, then stack each of the star shaped cakes, largest to smallest, on top, adding icing between each layer to hold the cakes in place and to decorate with "snow".

Sprinkle over the 100s and 1000s, then dust with a little icing sugar for a finishing touch.