Salted Caramel Christmas Gingerbread Cake

PREPARATION

• 1
  Roll out the gingerbread dough thinly on a floured surface. Cut out two 20 cm circles from the dough (you can use a 20 cm lid for the shape). Knead the remaining dough together, then roll it out again and cut out two more 20 cm circles.
• 2
  Place the dough circles on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, prick them in several places with a fork (to prevent the dough from rising). Then bake for 6-8 minutes in an oven preheated to 170 degrees Celsius. Let the baked gingerbread layers cool completely before filling.
• 3
  For the cream, mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar and the soft, diced butter until smooth. Add the mascarpone and mix the cream until smooth. Whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form, and gradually, carefully fold it into the mascarpone cream (the cream should not be too soft, so you might not need all of the whipped cream).
• 4
  Spread the cooled gingerbread cake layers with the mascarpone cream, and thinly spread the cream on the outside, all around the cake. Place the finished cake in the refrigerator for a few hours so that the dough layers soften sufficiently, the cream sets, and the flavors meld together.
• 5
  For the Caramel sauce, heat the whipping cream until it just begins to boil, then remove it from the heat. Caramelize the granulated sugar in a pan, stirring, until light in color, then remove from heat and add the whipping cream, salt, and mix (the caramel will harden a bit from the warm cream at this point, but it will melt during cooking). Return the sauce to the heat and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the caramel thickens sufficiently (you should get a thick but still pourable sauce).
• 6
  Then let the prepared caramel sauce cool to room temperature. Take the cooled cake out of the refrigerator and pour the cooled salted caramel over it. Then return it to the refrigerator for a short while for the caramel to set.