Zingy Lemon & Ginger Iced Gingerbread Cake

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

"Run Run As Fast As You Can.....

You can't catch me - I'm a gingerbread man !"

I've had a really stupidly busy week and been working extra long days - even more than my normal long ones. Going to bed at 3am and getting up around 7.30am doesn't leave much room for play or fun ..... That's why there has not been much blogging of late - though I do have a couple of belated things still to post from right at the start of the month.

My mum was down visiting last weekend and brought Oliver a book The Gingerbread Man. I remember having it myself as a child. Mine was a hardback and gingerbread man was on a ribbon. There was a slot in my book so you could pass him through the pages.

 

Anyway - we've been reading that this week and reciting the main lines pretty much every where we go ! I decided it was time to make some gingerbread men (and bears). A few were delinquints - like the one with the spikey hair and big tummy and the one poking it's toungue out and having a bandaged arm... I used Martha Stewarts recipe - which you can find here.

I decided to make a load of teeny weeny gingerbread bears too band sandwiched them together with some butter icing made with th usual butter and incing sugar as well as ginger syrup.

Oliver and I made the dough yesterday morning and I baked it tonight after we got back from BEWILDERWOOD on silicone baking mats / tray liners. They only took 10mins for the large ones and 5 mins for the teeny weeny ones.

Oliver ran for hours and hours. Bewilderwood is THE most fantastic place for children and adults. We both had a fantastic time on all the tree top walks and there are some excellent slides.

Yup - no time other than the odd snap - you can just about spot Oliver high-tailing it up those stairs !

Some really cool tree houses and dens. Boat rides etc too. It's fairly expensive - but includes everything.... and worth EVERY penny.

You can't see how big or steep this scramble net is - but I'm looking down on Oliver climbing up. This is his second time round !

It's a pretty big complex at 50 acres. It's VERY easy to stay all day - even with a toddler. By the time we left to come home, Oliver was so tired he could barely stand, yet still didn't want to leave !

There is stuff for all ages - including slides and zip wire rides. This grandfather and two young boys were having a wonderful time on a swing for three ! The face painter they had was truly awesome. I think Oliver is a little too small - next year maybe... but there were full grown adult men and women going about with painted faces as well as the kids.

This place even makes adults feel 10yo again. I cannot tell you how good it is. If you ever visit East Anglia - TAKE YOUR KIDS TO BEWILDERWOOD !