Gingerbread Slice (Perník)

This recipe for perník, Bohemian gingerbread flavored with old Czech spices, is made on a baking sheet. The spices enhance its taste, surprising you in a pleasant way.

I decorated the surface of the cake with a grid of fruit jam. The marmalade adds a juicy flavor to the cake and also looks nice.

➤ The Czech word perník (pernik) translates into English as gingerbread. Perníčky (small, tiny shapes made of spiced honey dough) is translated as gingerbread cookies.

MYT TIP: Try also this Czech makovec poppy seed cake (it tastes heavenly!)

📝 Ingredients

To make Czech gingerbread perník slice, we need:

• All-purpose flour
• Eggs; remove them about half to an hour before baking and let them come to room temperature
• Coarse sugar
• Homemade gingerbread spice mix; anise seeds, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, lemon and orange zest - preparation described below
• Baking powder
• Oil; sunflower or rapeseed
• Milk; ideally lukewarm
• Cocoa; dark, Dutch type
• Marmalade; for the decorative grid, preferably a tangier one (e.g., currant)

Next, take some fat and a tablespoon of flour to line the baking tray. Also, a pastry or other sturdy plastic bag to pipe the marmalade grid over the gingerbread batter poured on the baking sheet.

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

🥣 Homemade Gingerbread Spice Mix

Here are the ingredients you need to make homemade gingerbread spice:

How to make it:

1. Grind anise, allspice, and cloves in a spice grinder (electric or manual). Strain the ground mixture through a coarse sieve to remove any tough spice residue.
2. Add ground cinnamon.
3. Wash the orange and lemon carefully and grate about a teaspoon of fresh zest from each citrus. Add this too to the mixture and stir.

➤ Now the gingerbread spice mix is ready to use.

📷 Making Gingerbread Slice

STEP 1: Grease a baking tray and dust with flour.

STEP 2: With an electric hand mixer, beat the eggs with the coarse sugar until foamy. Be patient; it will take five minutes.

TIP: Eggs that you take out of the fridge half an hour to an hour in advance and let them come to room temperature will whip much better!

STEP 3: In a bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and cocoa.

STEP 4: Gradually add the flour, milk, and oil to the whisked eggs. Beat slowly with an electric mixer. Finally, stir in the gingerbread spice blend.

STEP 5: Pour the gingerbread batter onto the prepared baking sheet and use a spatula to level the surface.

STEP 6: Heat the marmalade in a saucepan so that it is warm but not hot. If it is thick, add a tablespoon or two of water and stir into a semi-liquid mixture. Fill a pastry bag with a cut-off tip (about ¼ inch / 0.5 cm) with the marmalade mixture thus prepared. Use the bag to make a slanting grid across the surface of the pastry.

STEP 7: Bake the gingerbread in a preheated oven at 340 °F (170 °C) for 30 minutes. 

🍽️ Serving

Let the gingerbread cake cool completely, and then cut it into slices of approximately 3x3 inches (7x7 cm). Serve with a good cup of coffee or tea.

🍳 Baking Sheet

I baked the gingerbread slice on a 12x14 inch (30x35 cm) baking sheet. Feel free to use a bit larger baking sheet; the resulting gingerbread won't be as tall. You may need more jam for the grid.

👌 Useful Tips

• The gingerbread slice will puff up quite a bit on the baking sheet, but the jam grid will compress the dough, creating a nice plastic effect on the surface.
• Use a more distinctive marmalade. The marmalade gives the gingerbread cake a significant flavor boost. I mixed plum jam with currant jam.
• Warmed marmalade will be easier to pipe. If it's too stiff, thin it with a bit of water while heating. Whisk well to a smooth mixture with no clumps.

More sweet recipes:

• Coconut meringue cookies – Czech kokosky
• Plum dumplings – with poppy seeds
• Czech apple slice – hraběnčiny řezy

Recipe Card