Home made Gingerbread Cake

Ever since I can remember I’ve been baking cakes I remember as a child always asking my mum if I could make fairy cakes (cup cakes, no one seems to call them that anymore!) One of my favourite cakes to bake is a gingerbread, most people think this is a very difficult cake to make but it’s actually one of the easiest and requires little effort, just a little patience.

Everyone seems to have their own secret to making a gingerbread cake but mine is simple and there’s no secret, just lots of yummy ingredients. Best of all, there’s no vigorous mixing and no need for electrical tools to help you mix this cake.

150g treacle, 130g Golden syrup, 130g butter, 1 egg, 275gm self raising flour or equivelant plain flower with an added quarter tsp of baking powder and bicarbonate soda. 6 floz of milk or alternative, 2 heaped tsp dry ginger, half tsp all spice, 1tsp cinnamon, 1/4tsp nutmeg. (Optional half a thumb size of fresh ginger grated on the smallest part of the grater

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I use goat’s milk and butter, this is purely a dietary choice but please use whatever dairy or alternative you prefer.

Topping optional: Icing sugar & lemon juice, 100gms to the juice of half a lemon.

You can vary this depending on how you like your icing

Heat oven to 180c or gas mark 4 For 35- 40 minutes

Add the treacle syrup and butter to a sauce pan and gently

heat until the butter has melted then leave aside until cooled.

Cooling is really important, if the pan is too hot

when you add the eggs they will scramble.

Mix the egg and milk together (fresh ginger optional)

Sieve all the dry ingredients together and once cooled add the treacle mix, stir until all the flour has been absorbed then slowly mix in the egg & milk mix.

Pour the mix into a greased or lined loaf tin and bake on the

middle oven shelf for 35-40 min.

 

Now for the hard part and this is why I say you need patience. Leave the loaf in an air tight container overnight! I know it’s hard because you just want to eat it straight away but trust me, a gingerbread needs to sit overnight. Finally mix some icing sugar with fresh lemon juice to whatever consistency you like and spread over the top of the cake. Once set it’s ready to eat.