Ginger cake

“But baby it’s cold outside” – indulge me for a moment and imagine that I am actually Cerys Matthews and I have the rather lovely Tom Jones serenading me.  Oh well, maybe not.  Still it is cold outside.

On a day like this the only decent place to be is in front of a fire, wrapped in a blanket eating something comforting.  What could be more comforting than a sticky piece of ginger cake?  Well, very little actually.

This cake is good on the day it is baked but it is even better wrapped in foil and left for a couple of days until it reaches its sticky peak.

I am submitting this entry to A Slice of Cherry Pie’s Snowy Day Bake Off because we could all do with a little comfort when the weather is so bitingly cold. If you are reading this on the other side of the hemisphere – you lucky, lucky folk!

This time I have added pieces of stem ginger into the mix, which gives a lovely zingy bite to the cake, but if you don’t happen to have any in the cupboard, feel free to leave it out.  You can also use all plain flour if you don’t have any spelt flour, or use wholemeal flour in the place of the spelt.

This recipe is adapted from Mary Berry’s Gingerbread in The Aga Book, So I always use my small Aga roasting tin which measure 30cm x 20cm.  I line it with foil and grease the foil lightly.

100g (4oz) butter
100g (4oz) soft brown sugar
100g (4oz) golden syrup
100g (4oz) treacle
100g (4oz) plain flour
100g (4oz) spelt flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp mixed spice
150ml milk
1 egg
50g stem ginger, diced

Method

Place the butter, sugar, syrup and treacle into a pan and heat gently until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved.  Take the pan off the heat. Sift in the flours, baking powder and spices.  Measure the milk in a jug and break in the egg and whisk lightly to combine and pour this over the treacly mixture and flour and stir to combine well.  Add the stem ginger if you are using it and mix in well. Pour into the prepared tin and tip gently to level the mixture.

Place in a preheated oven at 170°c, gas mark 3, or the fourth set of runners of the baking oven of the Aga for 25-30 minutes until springy to the touch.  Place the tin on a wire rack and leave the cake to cool completely.

Sit yourself down with a cup of tea and enjoy a large square and think yourself very lucky that you aren’t a chicken. BBRRRRR!

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24 thoughts on “Ginger cake”

  1. Hmm, heavenly. Even on my side of the world on this little hot rock called Mauritius, I could thoroughly enjoy a square of that and a cup of tea – right now!
    I have copy and pasted your recipe and saved it in my treasured folder of Must Try Recipes.
    🙂 Mandy

  2. I like – I like and would love a slice of ginger cake right now. A slice would be so welcome and warming right now. Yuph – baby its cold (in fact its freeeeeeeeeeezing) outside. Enjoy what is left of your evening. Stay warm.

  3. Your ginger cake looks so yummy and moist! The weather looks quite miserable on your end. But I guess that’s winter. On my end, it’s dark and cold most days with blazing sun unexpectedly and this is supposed to be winter. Sigh.

    1. Hi Margaret, yes those are our Black Rock chickens and they are coping very well with the cold weather. I chose them because they are a hardy breed, with almost waterproof feathers. They have a lovely cosy pen stuffed with straw when it gets too bad for them. They haven’t laid any eggs this week though and who can blame them.

  4. Oh, the poor chooks, they don’t look too happy at all. The cake, on the other hand, looks very happy or is it that I am happy looking at it. Sticky ginger cake is one of the best and you’re right, eating it in front of a roaring fire sounds wonderful. Oh for a roaring fire, or any kind of fire. I’m typing this in my hat, scarf, coat and with a blanket wrapped around me – well insulated is not what our house is and the heating is struggling.

    Now I do object to being lumped in under a general heading of Tom Jones fan – I’m not, I’m not – I’m really not.

    1. Oh Lord Choc, that sounds cold. Our house leaks energy, I would hate to think what a thermal imaging camera would make of it. Not a Tom Jones fan – what are you thinking? Are you sure you aren’t a little bit tempted to throw your knickers?

      1. Ha ha. My cousin had a punk rock band may years ago and did a number of tours around Europe and the States – he acquired a substantial collection of knickers.

  5. Brrrrr
    I felt chilled just looking at your grey snowy pictures.
    Sun was out briefly here today, and tonight it’s windy with a cold front moving in.
    Indeed, best to get in front of the fire with a blanket and a piece of your delicious sticky ginger!

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