Shortbread Holiday  House

La ricetta in italiano della Torta con casetta di pasta frolla è qui 

A friend of mine asked me to make a birthday cake for her daughter and since we are in full holiday season, I thought I would prepare a  cake in the shape of a house. I am not crazy about gingerbread, so I preferred using a cocoa shortbread instead. It was my first time as  can be  seen  from the  imperfections, but I am happy with the results nonetheless because I had attempted to make it a few  days ago, it turned out to be a  disaster and the whole thing  ended  up in the trash. After having read various recipes on blogs and fb, I decided to  try again.

It is a 2 layer  sponge cake made with 4  eggs, one layer is filled with  cream, condensed milk and amaretto cookie crumble and the other layer is chocolate cream. I made a water, sugar and  Nutella syrup to moisten the cake. The cake is completed with buttercream and sugar fondant.

Shortbread holiday house

Cream

• Lemon peel or 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 100 gr sugar
• 500 ml whole milk
• 2     eggs
• 40 gr corn starch
• 25 gr bittersweet powdered cocoa

Place  the lemon peel or vanilla extract in a  blender with the sugar and grind. Place the sugar into a saucepan, add the warm milk, the eggs and the corn starch. Stir and cook on low heat until the cream thickens.

Pour half of the cream into a bowl, add the remaining cocoa and stir to incorporate.

 

Cocoa  shortbread house

 

300 gr  flour

• 120 gr powdered sugar
• 30   gr bittersweet powdered cocoa
• 1    egg
• 1   egg yolk
• 1  tsp. baking powder
• 2   vanilla extract
• 120 gr butter

Grind the sugar with a blender, then place it in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and knead together.

 

 

Shape the dough into a ball, cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for approximately 1 hour.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out with a rolling pin, cut out the various parts of the house. I used a template which I found in the magazine Christmas Cake.

Bake  the pieces in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius for  15 minutes.

 

Remove the shortbread pieces from the oven and allow them  to cool. In  the meantime, prepare  the royal icing with 250 grams sugar, 1 egg white and 1 tablespoon  of lemon juice.

Grind the sugar  and add it to the egg white and lemon juice. Stir to incorporate. Put the pieces of the house together using the royal icing as a glue and decorate with a variety of candies.