Gingerbread Cake

Sunday was a birthday party for my boyfriend's Grandma.  That's who the Florentines were for.  I also got to be in charge of dessert though.  It was requested I make lemon ice cream (which will be followed up next entry) because it is adored by my boyfriend and his mum, and to accompany it I decided to make a gingerbread cake because lemon and ginger go well together.  I'd never made one before so it was interesting but successful!  Clearly I am much better at cakes than I am at biscuits.

I have to say I did not eat the cake.  I tried it but I don't like ginger in desserts.  I use it in oriental dishes and that's it.  I don't like gingerbread biscuits either.  Everyone else loved it though!  It was pretty much gone.  I even converted a couple of people to ginger cake, so I was terribly chuffed.

The recipe comes from Cake Decorating magazine and is the first recipe I've tried from that series.  Very good though I would change around the order I do things, which I will be doing in the write-up below.

Recipe - adapted from Cake Decorating issue 8

• 225g/8oz golden syrup
• 125g/4.5oz unsalted butter
• 125g/4.5oz dark muscavado sugar
• 250g/9oz self raising flour
• 4tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs
• 240ml/8fl.oz milk

1. Put the golden syrup and butter in a small saucepan and warm over a gentle heat.
2. Add the sugar to the saucepan and let the mixture bubble for about a minute.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  This takes a while so let the pan cool a bit and then put it in some cold water to speed it up.  Be careful not to get the water in the syrup.
4. In the meantime sift the flour, mixed spice, ginger, bicarbonate of soda a salt together in a large bowl and mix together.
5. In another bowl or jug, break the eggs, add the milk and whisk.
6. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and grease an 8inch/20cm square cake tin.
7. When the syrup has completely cooled, add to the flour mix and stir well.
8. Add the egg mix and stir until it has gone runny and everything is completely combined.
9. Spoon or pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin and put in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean (mine took about an hour but we think there is a problem with the cooker).
10. Let the cake rest in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

If you want an extra-moist cake, wrap it in foil once it is cool and leave for 24 hours.