Piernik (Polish gingerbread)

Name: Piernik (Polish gingerbread)
Prep time: 11 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 31 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: 140g Unsalted Butter; 300g Clear Honey; 100g Brown Sugar; 375g Self-raising Flour; 3 tsp Ground Ginger; 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon Ground Clove; 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg; 1/4 tsp Pepper; 3 Large Egg; 200g Plum Jam; 225ml Double Cream; 140g Dark Chocolate; 3 tablespoons Clear Honey

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Dessert recipe with Polish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 43 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 31 min total

140g Unsalted Butter
300g Clear Honey
100g Brown Sugar
375g Self-raising Flour
3 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Clove
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 Large Egg
200g Plum Jam
225ml Double Cream
140g Dark Chocolate
3 tablespoons Clear Honey

Step-by-step instructions

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 20cm cake tin with baking parchment. Put the honey, sugar and butter in a medium saucepan and cook over a medium heat until fully melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Put the flour and spices in a large bowl and mix everything together.
Once the liquid ingredients have cooled, whisk in the eggs. Pour over the dry ingredients, whisking them together to form a smooth batter – be careful not to overmix as this can lead to a dry cake. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 mins or until risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 20 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, use a large serrated knife to slice the cake into 3 layers. Spread the jam across the 2 bottom cake layers, then reassemble the cake and set aside while you make the glaze. Put the cream, chocolate and honey in a medium pan and cook over a low-medium heat until the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth, pourable mixture. Put the cake on a wire rack set over a parchment-lined baking tray and pour over the glaze, making sure to cover the entire cake. Use a fish slice to carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate and allow the glaze to set. To decorate, dust with a little edible gold powder, if you like. Uniced, this cake will keep for up to 5 days. Once iced, enjoy within 3 days – just keep in the fridge, but remove before serving and eat at room temperature.

Why this works on a weeknight

Piernik (Polish gingerbread) lands at about 31 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sweet Finishes collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Piernik (Polish gingerbread) actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍮 Sweet Finishes Dessert Polish