Gingerbread
Photo: cj from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0
This soft, dark gingerbread is a spice cake baked in a square tin, not a cookie. Golden syrup and brown sugar give it a sticky, treacly crumb, while ginger and mixed spice keep the flavor warm and steady. The real trick is patience: wrapped and left for a day before cutting, it turns moister and deeper. Swap in oat flour for half the flour and you have parkin, the English Bonfire Night cake.
Instructions
Put the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Grease an 8-inch (20 cm) square cake tin.
Combine the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and ground ginger in a bowl. Pour in the melted butter mixture and beat until the batter is smooth.
Warm the milk in a saucepan so that it loosens the syrup, then add it to the bowl and beat thoroughly.
Beat the eggs lightly in a separate bowl, then stir them into the batter until evenly mixed. The batter will be quite thin.
Pour the batter into the greased tin and bake at 170°C (325°F) for 1 hour.
Let the cake cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn it out. Leave it for at least 1 day before cutting it into squares and serving.
For parkin, replace half of the flour by weight with 110 g (4 oz) coarse oat flour.
Make it personal.
Custom engraved cutting boards, utensils, and kitchen accessories. Great gifts for anyone who cooks.
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