Minta’s Gingerbread Loaf Cake

Name: Minta’s Gingerbread Loaf Cake (Dirty Piernik)
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: 9 Tbsp [125 g] unsalted butter; 1 cup plus 2 tsp [250 g] whole milk; ¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp [70 g] demerara sugar or granulated sugar; ¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp [70 g] demerara sugar or granulated sugar; 4 eggs; 2⅓ cups plus 1 Tbsp [300 g] all-purpose flour; 1 batch [40 g] Gingerbread Spice; 1 Tbsp grated orange zest (optional); 2 tsp baking soda; ½ tsp kosher salt; 1 cup [180 g] chopped dates; 1 cup [120 g] chopped walnuts; 2 Tbsp [25 g] finely chopped Candied Orange Peel (optional); 1 to 2 Tbsp [15 to 30 g] cold unsalted butter, cut into small batons; 1 batch Chocolate Glaze; ½ cup [60 g] slivered almonds, candied fruit, star anise, or red peppercorns for decorating (optional); ½ cup [60 g] slivered almonds, candied fruit, star anise, or red peppercorns for decorating (optional); ½ cup [60 g] slivered almonds, candied fruit, star anise, or red peppercorns for decorating (optional); ½ cup [60 g] slivered almonds, candied fruit, star anise, or red peppercorns for decorating (optional)

Dirty Piernik

Preparation info

Makes
one

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Dobre Dobre

By Laurel Kratochvila

Published 2025

About

A traditional Polish piernik loaf cake, the staropolski, is, like the Pierniki Toruńskie, a labor of planning ahead. The dough ages in the cold for at least a month, sometimes two, and if we’re being honest, the cake is often dry and rarely delicious. But if the Christmas season isn’t about loaf cakes that we feel ambivalent about but last forever, what is it about? Well, maybe it can be about something similar but a little bit different.

For one P

Ingredients

Europe
Poland
Cake
Vegetarian
Christmas
December
Eastern Europe

Ingredients

Method