Gingerbread orange cake:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350F and prepare 4 8" cake pans with parchment paper (see notes if you want to use 2 pans)
2. Add the oil, brown sugar and orange zest to a bowl. Whisk for 60 seconds until somewhat combined
3. Add the eggs, molasses and orange juice, and whisk for 2 minutes until the mixture looks smooth and creamy
4. Sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Slowly and gently fold with a whisk until the dry ingredients are just combined and there are no more lumps of flour. Do not overmix
5. Add the very hot water, and slow and carefully fold it into the rest of the batter. Stop mixing as soon as it is combined
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and spread evenly as needed
7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with light, moist crumbs on it (no wet batter)
8. Remove from the oven. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then carefully remove them and place on a wire rack to completely cool down

Dulce de leche filling:

1. Add the dulce de leche, cream and salt to a saucepan. Place on the stove on low heat and whisk and cook until the mixture becomes smooth and just starts to simmer. Remove from heat and let it cool down

Dulce de leche cream cheese frosting:

1. Add the butter, cream cheese, dulce de leche, vanilla and salt to the bowl of your stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Whisk on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes, scraping along the way, until the ingredients are combined and the mixture looks creamy
2. Sift in 1 cup of powdered sugar and whisk on high speed for 1-2 minutes until the frosting looks fluffy. Taste, and add more icing sugar as needed. Don't overmix as that can cause the frosting to become runny.
3. If the frosting is too soft, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes

Ginger snaps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F (or keep it at 350F after the cakes are baked) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Add the butter, sugar and honey to a saucepan. Cook and stir on low heat until the butter has melted
3. Add the flour and ground ginger, and whisk until a thick paste / batter forms. Remove from heat
4. Using a tablespoon measure, place 3-4 spoons of the batter on the baking sheet, keeping a good 4-5" between each dollop. Don't make the spoons heaping
5. Bake at 350F for 4-6 minutes or until the batter turns into a thin, lacy cookie that is golden brown in color. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. The cookie should become crispy. Remove, and repeat with any remaining batter until all ginger snaps are cooked

Assembly:

1. Place one cake layer on a turntable and trim off any dome using a sharp serrated knife
2. Spread a thick layer of the frosting evenly on top of the cake
3. Add a thin layer of the dulce de leche cream filling (about 2 tbsp) and spread it evenly on top of the frosting
4. Repeat until all cake layers are done. Cover the cake in a thin layer of the cream cheese frosting, and refrigerate until firm. This is the crumb coat which will trap any crumbs so they don't show on top of the cake. Then cover with the rest of the frosting and make it as even as you can
5. To decorate, you can make a marbled effect on top of the cake with the remaining dulce de leche cream filling - see notes on how to do this in the blog post above. You can also use the cream to make a drip on top of the cake. If using the ginger snaps, break them into shards and add them on top of the cake or on the sides
6. Serve and enjoy!

Video Tutorial:

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