Description
This rich and festive Chocolate Caramel Gingerbread Pie combines the warm spices of homemade gingerbread with a luscious caramel and dark chocolate filling. Topped with delicate royal icing snowflakes, this pie is a perfect centerpiece dessert for holiday celebrations, offering a delightful balance of sweet, spicy, and creamy flavors.
Ingredients
Scale
Caramel Filling
- 380g can caramel top ‘n’ fill
- 2 eggs
- 185ml (3/4 cup) Bulla Cooking Cream
- 100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
Royal Icing
- 330g packet royal icing mix
- 60ml (1/4 cup) fresh lemon juice, strained
Gingerbread Dough
- 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
- 125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
- 50g butter
- 340g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour
- 75g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
Instructions
- Prepare the Gingerbread Syrup: Place brown sugar, golden syrup, and butter in a saucepan over low heat. Cook while stirring for 3–5 minutes until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Make the Dough: In a large bowl, combine plain flour, self-raising flour, ground ginger, mixed spice, ground cloves, and bicarbonate of soda. Add the cooled sugar mixture and lightly whisked egg. Stir until combined. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide dough into two discs, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat and Prepare Pie Dish: Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan-forced). Grease a 23cm pie dish with a small lip. Roll out one dough disc on lightly floured baking paper to 3–4mm thickness, flip dough over rolling pin to remove paper, and line pie dish carefully without stretching. Trim edges. Chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
- Blind Bake the Tart Shell: Place lined pie dish on baking tray, line pastry with baking paper and fill with pastry weights or rice. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden. Remove weights and paper, wrap foil around edges to prevent burning, and bake another 10 minutes until golden. Cool completely.
- Prepare and Bake Filling: Whisk caramel until smooth, add eggs and cooking cream, combining well. Whisk in melted cooled dark chocolate. Pour filling into cooled pastry shell. Wrap foil around edges again to protect pastry and bake for 35–40 minutes until filling is just set. Cool completely.
- Make Snowflake Decorations: On two lined baking trays, roll out remaining dough to 3–4mm thickness and cut snowflake shapes with cutters. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes. Bake snowflakes for 10–12 minutes until lightly golden and crisp. Cool on trays.
- Prepare Royal Icing and Decorate Snowflakes: In a large bowl, whisk royal icing mix with lemon juice for 3–5 minutes until thick and voluminous. If too stiff to pipe, add a little hot water and whisk again. Transfer icing to piping bag fitted with 1–2mm plain nozzle. Pipe intricate patterns onto cooled snowflakes. Cover remaining icing with plastic wrap tightly. Allow snowflakes to set for 3–4 hours.
- Assemble the Pie: Whisk remaining royal icing until smooth. Use this icing as glue to attach the decorated snowflakes around the edge of the cooled pie, creating a festive finish.
Notes
- Chilling the dough discs before rolling ensures easier handling and prevents shrinking during baking.
- Use of pastry weights or rice during blind baking helps maintain the crust shape and prevents bubbling.
- Protecting pastry edges with foil throughout baking avoids over-browning.
- Freshly made royal icing is best piped and allowed to set fully for crisp decorations.
- Make sure chocolate is cooled before adding to caramel mixture to prevent curdling the filling.
- Store pie in the refrigerator to maintain filling texture and decoration integrity.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice (1/10th of pie)
- Calories: 420 kcal
- Sugar: 28 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 13 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 80 mg
