Cakes & Bakes: Sticky ginger loaf

Every week I bake Justin a fresh “cake to have with a cup of tea at about 3 o’clock”.

I usually make something I haven’t tried before so that I can use it as the week’s Cakes & Bakes post.

Today it’s the turn of the sticky ginger loaf. It’s similar to McVitie’s Original Jamaica Ginger Cake oozing with Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Black Treacle.

I’ve topped my sticky ginger loaf cake with runny ginger icing and sprinkled the top with finely chopped stem ginger.

This tasty, old fashioned cake is quick to make; you’ll probably already have all the ingredients in your store cupboard. It’s perfect if you suddenly realise (like I did) that you’ve run out of “cake to have with a cup of tea at about 3 o’clock”!

Sticky ginger loaf

Flora

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Ingredients

For the cake

225 g/8oz self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
115 g/4oz butter
115 g/4oz demerara sugar
115 g/4oz black treacle
115 g/4oz golden syrup
250 ml/9floz milk
85 g/3oz stem ginger in syrup finely chopped
1 egg

For the icing

80 g/3oz icing sugar sieved
2 tbs stem ginger syrup
10 g/⅓oz stem ginger finely chopped

Instructions

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4
Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin
Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda & ground spices into a large mixing bowl
Melt the butter, demerara sugar, treacle and syrup over a low heat, until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the milk
Add the finely chopped stem ginger to the flour mixture, pour in the melted ingredients, stir thoroughly
Add the egg and combine before pouring the batter into the tin
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes away clean
Allow to cool completely before turning out onto a wire cooling rack

For the icing

Mix the sugar with 2tbs of ginger syrup to form a runny icing (add a tsp of water if necessary)
Drizzle over the top of the cake before sprinkling with the finely chopped stem ginger (or crystallized ginger if you have it)

Keyword cake, ginger, loaf cake, tea loaf

Chilli, garlic, ginger jam

We had a mini glut of chillies following the small crop of our own being suddenly boosted by gifts from friends who had a greenhouse full! A chilli jam seemed like the best course of action – chilli, garlic & ginger jam to be precise.

It’s a very flexible preserve suitable for adding to Indian, Chinese or Thai dishes – lightly brushing on barbecued meats & vegetables – or giving cheese on toast a real kick! The cooking process filled the house with wonderful aromas and these little jars of intense flavour are excellent additions to the store cupboard or larder.

Chilli, garlic, ginger jam

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Course Condiment

Ingredients

12 chillies choose from finger/cayenne, serrano, jalepeño etc depending on how mild or fiery you like it
1 large or 2 small garlic bulbs
75 g ginger
75 ml rice wine vinegar
75 ml water
1 lime juiced
150 g palm sugar crumbled or soft brown sugar

Instructions

Peel the garlic and ginger and de-stalk the chillies (don't remove the seeds) before pulsing in a mini-processor for about 20 seconds
Add the purée to a medium-sized saucepan with the vinegar, water, lime juice and sugar
Warm on a low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves
Turn the heat up to high and boil rapidly for 10 minutes
Decant into sterilised jars before securing the lids tightly

Keyword chilli, chilli sauce, jam

Cakes & Bakes: Pear and ginger cake

Temperatures have fallen this week and the local sycamore trees are getting the tell-tale tar spots on their leaves. Two clues to the onset of autumn. Autumn makes us crave more warming, hearty foods – porridge for breakfast, shepherd’s pie for dinner. This week’s Cakes & Bakes item falls into this category. It’s Rose Prince‘s pear and ginger cake taken from a recent issue of the Telegraph Magazine.

Pear and ginger cake

Those who know Rose Prince's cake-making will be accustomed to the boiling method that she uses for fruit and spice cakes – it ensures an edge with a lovely chewiness and a soggy inner crumb. Eat this cake with mature cheddar cheese, after a long Sunday lunch.You will need a 20cm square cake tin with a loose base, or a similar 25cm round tin. Prepare the tin by buttering it well, then lining with baking parchment and buttering it again – generously.

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Ingredients

2 tbsp demerara sugar
2-3 pears depending on your pan, peeled, cored & halved
180 g unsalted butter
180 g soft brown sugar
90 g golden syrup
90 g black treacle
2 level tsps ground ginger
3 eggs beaten
270 g ground almonds
90 g plain flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/340ºF/Gas mark 3½
Sprinkle the demerara sugar evenly over the base of the cake tin, then place the pears, core facing down, in the tin. Set to one side while you make the batter
Put the butter, sugar and both the syrups into a large saucepan together with two tablespoons of water and bring the mixture to the boil. Boil over a medium heat for 3 minutes then remove the pan from the heat and set it aside to cool for 10-15 minutes
Mix in the ground ginger, then the beaten egg, and beat well
Stir in the ground almonds
Sift in the flour together with the bicarbonate of soda
Mix everything together well, then immediately spoon the mixture into the cake tin over the pear halves, without disturbing their arrangement if possible
Bake for 50-70 minutes, until the cake feels firm when pressed
Turn the heat down to 160ºC/320ºF/gas mark 3 if the surface or edges begin to look too dark
Allow to cool, then turn out on to a board or flat plate/platter
Serve cut into thick slices

Banana Parkin

I opened the car’s glove compartment yesterday in search of a CD… but came across a couple of “past their sell by date” bananas instead. They’d been put there a few days earlier as an “on board” snack for a trip we’d made to Penrith. Rather than throw them out (or giving them to Fudge as a treat) I decided to make some banana parkin… with a ginger twist!

Parkin is a cake traditionally eaten in the autumn – and especially on Bonfire Night. It’s very popular, and thought to have originated, in the north of England – probably Yorkshire or Lancashire.

The method I used was taken from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden.

Banana parkin

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Ingredients

200 g/7oz plain flour
10 ml/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
10 ml/2tsp ground ginger
150 g/5oz medium oatmeal
60 ml/4tbs
75 g/3oz margarine
150 g/5oz/ golden syrup
1 egg beaten
3 ripe bananas mashed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Grease & line an 18cm x 28cm / 7” x 11” tin.
Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger, then stir in the oatmeal.
Melt the sugar, margarine and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, then stir into the flour mixture. Beat in the egg and mashed bananas.
Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour until firm to the touch.
Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares. (I made mine in a loaf tin, so I cut it into slices).

Parkin improves with age and, if stored in an airtight container, keeps for a couple of months.

Perfect with a mug of strong (Yorkshire… or Lancashire) tea!

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: ginger

Cakes & Bakes: Sticky ginger loaf

Sticky ginger loaf

Ingredients

For the cake

For the icing

Instructions

For the cake

For the icing

Chilli, garlic, ginger jam

Chilli, garlic, ginger jam

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Pear and ginger cake

Pear and ginger cake

Ingredients

Instructions