Fruit gingerbread from Maison Kayser

For Saint Nicolas, the Kayser house unveils its recipe for gingerbread with dried fruits.
Dried apricots, almonds, candied oranges, prunes, cinnamon and star anise blend subtly in this honey-flavoured cake.
A revisited nod to this Alsatian dessert par excellence which reminds Eric Kayser of the tastes of his childhood.

Ingredients

140 g flour
15 g potato starch
½ sachet of baking powder
1 tbsp. level coffee baking soda
2 tbsp. rum
30 g dried apricots, diced
30 g candied oranges, diced
30 g pitted prunes, diced
30 g whole, blanched almonds

For the syrup

80 g caster sugar
80 g honey
4 star anise (star anise)
½ tsp. four spice coffee
½ cinnamon stick

Preperation

The day before prepare the syrup.
Put all the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes on a low heat with 12 cl of water.
Leave to infuse for 24 hours

The next day
Filter the syrup using a tea strainer. Preheat the oven to 160°C (th 5-6). In a large bowl, work the flour with the starch, baking powder and baking soda. Add the syrup, then mix well with a whisk. Pour in the rum, then incorporate the fruit and almonds using a flexible spatula. Butter the cake tin and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Pour in the batter and bake for 2 hours.