Gingerbread Bûche de Noël
Give the classic chocolate Bûche a makeover with festive flavours of ginger, cinnamon, treacle and golden syrup and creamy butter icing
Put the milk and 50g butter in a small saucepan and heat gently until the butter melts (you can also do this in a microwave). Leave to cool to room temperature.
Put the flour, yeast and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl along with the spices and the salt. Add the buttery milk and stir together. Tip the dough out and knead for 5 mins until smooth – it will be quite firm and you shouldn’t need to add flour.
Sprinkle over the dried fruit and knead well into the dough. Lightly oil the mixing bowl and return the dough to it. Cover and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hr.
Butter and line a 20 x 20cm cake tin with baking parchment or use a silicone liner for the air fryer basket.
Halve the dough and stretch each piece into a 20cm square. Place one in the base of the tin, pressing it out to the corners with your fingertips. On a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, roll the marzipan out to roughly the same size as the dough and lay it on top. Lay the second dough square over the marzipan, then cover loosely and prove again for 1 hr until lightly risen.
Heat the air fryer to 160C. Bake the stollen for 25-30 mins until golden brown on the top and base. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then lift out onto a wire rack.
Melt the remaining 15g butter and brush over the stollen. Dust generously with icing sugar, then leave to cool completely before cutting into squares.