This was a beautifully moist, rich and spicy gingerbread cake which was topped with a zingy lemon and ginger icing.
It was good. Really good ! Has to be my all time favourite gingerbread recipe. So good infact, I made two in two days. One to take to work Saturday before last (coffee and cake for customers every Saturday morning) and the other for my friend Victoria.
The original recipe can be found on the BBC GOOD FOOD website here
My recipe was very similar - but method a little different and quicker. I used a 9" square silicone mold and cut the finished cake into 18 generous sized servings.
225g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
120g butter
250ml milk
115g dark brown soft (muscavado) sugar
200g black treacle
50g golden syrup
80g finely grated preserved ginger (syrup reserved)
Preheat the oven to 160deg C fan / 180deg normal
Line a 9" square silicone baking mould or tin with baking parchment.
This is very sticky stuff - especially when iced, so I recommend you don't skip this step. I wanted to lift it out by the paper and am glad I went to the extra effort of lining the mould. Saying that, I only lined the base and two sides with a strip (after greasing to make the paper stick) and did not bother lining the other two sides.
Sieve all dry ingredients into a large bowl and give a stir to combine.
Melt the sugars, milk and butter in a large saucepan until almost boiling.
Remove from the heat.
Quickly mix in all dry ingredients until no lumps can be seen. You may want to use a hand mixer to do this.
Transfer this mixture into a 9" square silicone mould or traditional baking tin (on a baking tray for support) and get it in the oven as quick as you can.
Bake until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Mine took approx 25 mins.
FOR THE ICING
250g powdered icing sugar
juice of 1 lemon
reserved syrup from preserved ginger
Mix these together until a thick, smooth paste is formed.
Spread on top of the hot gingerbread (just out the oven). It will start to melt as you spread, which gives a nice even coverage.
Leave overnight in the tin / mould to cool and for the icing to harden. If you can resist, leave for a couple of days in a tin to mature as it will improve given a chance !
Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - Cooking with silicone bakeware
I love the gorgeous contrast of the icing with the dark, dark gingerbread cake :) Looks to die for, especially with the lemon twist!
ReplyDeleteHow beautifully simple, I love the lemon addition!
ReplyDeleteThis is how I remember my grandma gingerbread. Only when I came to US I saw the cutouts which resemble cookies, but my family made it like a cake. Seeing yours makes me miss my grandma's kitchen :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Comments.
ReplyDeleteRoxanna - I know what you mean. Gingerbread (cake not cookies) is common throughout Scotland. My gran used to make it too and remember her melting the butter / sugar etc and mixing it all in the pot. I'd not eaten gingerbread in years before making this. So glad I did !
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