Recipe 52/6 - Sticky Gingerbread

I love ginger cake, ginger biscuits... anything involving ginger! I love sticky toffee pudding. So when I saw this recipe for Sticky Gingerbread which sounded like a combination of the two I had to make it! 

Sometimes when I have a ridiculously long list of things to do, just stepping back and doing something else for an hour or two really helps to focus and de-stress me - and a bit of weekend baking can be the best thing! This recipe was perfect for this - relaxed and slow (basically just a lot of measuring out and mixing) I hate recipes where you have to try and get so many bits ready at the same time it stresses you out even more.

It was pretty time consuming as there are so many ingredients and it did create a mountain of washing up (you might want to avoid making this if you don't have a dishwasher...) But the smells of ginger, golden syrup and lemon when I was making it made it so worth it. It says the cake is best stored for 3-4 days before eating but I think I'm going to go and have a sneaky slice now...

You will need:

100g golden syrup

100g black treacle

75g unsalted butter

75g light soft brown or muscovado sugar

150g plain flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnammon

1 egg (lightly beaten)

75ml milk

finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

75g-100g finely chopped preserved stem ginger in syrup (drained)

to finish (optional)

50g icing sugar (sifted) - I think 50g was way too much but whenever I use icing sugar most of it ends up on me...

1tbsp lemon juice or water

50g whole stem ginger (2 pieces)

equipment

loaf tin (approx 20-10cm) lightly greased, base and long sides lined with baking parchment 

1. Preheat the oven to 170C

2. Put the golden syrup, treacle, butter and sugar into a small saucepan.

3. Place over a gentle heat and stir until the butter has melted and the ingredients are evenly blended.

4. Set aside to cool.

5. Sift the flour, ground ginger, mixed spice and cinnamon into a medium mixing bowl.

6. Make a well in the centre and add the cooled treacle mixture, egg, milk and lemon zest.

7. Using a wooden spoon, beat well until the mixture is smooth and glossy.

8. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 1tbsp hot water.

9. Add to the mixture with the chopped ginger and mix thoroughly to create a pourable batter.

10. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

11. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

12. When cold, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice or water and drizzle over the cake, then top with slivers of stem ginger (mine were more like chunks!)

This cake is best stored for 3-4 days before eating. It keeps well for 2 weeks and freezes beautifully.