I recently had a couple of requests for ginger cake. I have made one before, on this blog but that was before I was also doing videos. So I decided I would make it again, but with a little variation.
I should say that most of the recipes I have seen use only about half the volume of ingredients that my recipe uses, and usually with plain flour and baking powder where I use self raising flour and no baking powder. I originally found the recipe on BBC Food website, but I have adjusted it slightly as I mentioned. In particular the baking time has been adjusted, and the temperature, as well as the depth of pan required.
I also pureed the stem ginger with some juice from the jar, rather than putting small chunks of the ginger into the cake. That is because some people don’t like to suddenly encounter a very strong hit of ginger that you do get with stem ginger. Pureeing the ginger allows it to be mixed evenly throught the cake, with the ground ginger as well.
Although I haven’t used other spices it is fairly common to add some cinnamon and maybe cloves or nutmeg. But that is all a matter of taste really. For me the two types of ginger are enough to make a wonderful cake.
The original recipe called for a 9 inch/23cm square cake tin that is at least 1 1/2 inches deep. In fact that it not enough on its’ own. The amount of batter in the recipe will just about fill such a tin, so any rise may well have the cake spilling over the sides. Since I didn’t have a deeper tin of that size I adapted, by ensuring the the parchment paper which I used to line the tin came over the top of the tin by at least an inch. I also had some card that I could slip down the side of the tin if it looked like the paper wouldn’t hold the batter as it rose. In the event it held well. So my cake rose nicely and was contained. Then as it cooled it levelled, but was still 2 inches high, so above the height of the suggested tin.
I also baked my cake for 70 minutes, checking after 50 minutes to see if a skewer came out clean. Then, as it didn’t, I baked for a further 10 minutes and after testing again, 10 minutes more. That gave me a perfectly baked cake which is ideal for eating without any frosting, if desired. Of course it is also great with a nice orange flavoured frosting, which is simple to make. As well as eating as cake this is very good as a dessert with some custard, or some other sauce, maybe hot ginger sauce.
I am very pleased indeed with just how well this cake turned out, so I hope those who requested that I make it will enjoy making it themselves too.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 225g/2 sticks butter, softened
- 225g/1 packed cup light brown muscovado sugar
- 225g/5/8 cup golden syrup(corn syrup is a good alternative)
- 225g/2/3 cup black treacle(or molasses)
- 450g/16oz self raising flour((I used 225g of SR Flour and 225g wholmeal SR Flour but one type is ok if that is all you have)
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- 4 balls stem ginger (from a jar), with a little of the juice too.
- 2 medium eggs(large in USA), beaten
- 300ml/1 1/4cup milk( I used 2% semi skimmed)
- 160g/1 1/4 cups icing sugar
- Juice and zest of one orange.
- Place the stem ginger together a little juice into a food processor(I used my immersion blender) and process to a puree(you could just chop or grate into very small pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/320F.
- Grease and line a 9inch/23cm square cake tin. Preferably the tin with be more than 2 inches deep. If it isn’t then ensure that the lining comes at least an inch about the top of the tin, and then tape the excess so that it stands up and will support the cake as it rises. If you have a deeper 8 inch square tin that would be fine, but you may have to adjust the baking time.
- Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and black treacle into a saucepan and gently heat, stirring, until the butter has melted and the sugar is fully dissolved. Then allow to cool.
- In a large bowl place the flour and ground ginger and mix with a whisk(or sift together) until mixed together.
- Pour the milk into the bowl, then the ginger puree(or grated) and then the semi cooled butter mixture.
- Give it all a quick stir and then add the beaten eggs.
- Mix together until everything is combined and you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, giving it a little shake to ensure it is in the corners and is level.
- Bake in the oven for between 50 and 70 minutes, checking at 50 minutes with a skewer, if it comes out clean the cake is done. If not then leave it for another 10 minutes and check again, repeating until the skewer comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
- When the cake is cooled remove from the tin and place on a large plate.
- In a bowl place the icing sugar, orange juice and zest, and mix together until you have a thick paste, but just about of dropping consistency. If necessary add a little more sugar to thicken, or a drop of water to make a little looser.
- Pour the icing onto the top of the cake and use a spatula to gently spread all over the top, to the edges.
- Allow the frosting to set a little.
- Cut into squares and serve.
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