Ginger Looking Cake

I decided to publish the recipe for the latest cake I made today, now I've finetuned it.

17th September 2004 · Last updated: 5th October 2016
 

Ingredients · Baking Instructions


Ingredients

  • Plain flour - 500g (1lb)
  • Salt - 1 teaspoon
  • Ground ginger - 2 tablespoons
  • Ground mixed spice - 2 teaspoons
  • Walnut halves - enough to spread on the top
  • Baking powder - 1 tablespoon
  • Bicarbonate of soda - 1 teaspoon
  • Mixed peel - 50g (2oz)
  • Demerara sugar - 250g (8oz)
  • Butter - 175g (6oz)
  • Golden syrup - 200g (7oz)
  • Milk - 300ml (half a pint)
  • Egg - 1 (Medium size)

A delicious alternative to Golden Syrup is Maple Syrup. If you haven't any Demerara sugar, you can use other sugars like Light Muscovado Cane. Don't be afraid to experiment - that's what I did! Try different ingredients, or miss out some of the flavours and see what happens.

Baking Instructions

  1. Mix the flour, salt, mixed peel, ginger, mixed spice, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl. Make sure you get the measurements accurate.
  2. Put the butter into a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Now add the sugar and syrup. Keep stirring until completely blended.
  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
  4. Mix the egg and milk in a measuring jug using a whisk.
  5. Stir into the cooled saucepan and mix fully.
  6. Pour the contents into the mixing bowl and mix with the whisk. Pour slowly around the edges and keep mixing bit by bit. Aim for a solid mixture that can just about be stirred. Get plenty of air in and make sure the mixture is smooth - there should be no lumps. This is the hardest part as it's tough to stir it after a while but keep going.
  7. Prepare a greased cake tin of size 20cm (8in) deep. I use a round one with a removable base, greased with butter. The base makes it dead easy to remove the cake once it's baked. Pour in the cake mixture from the bowl. Now place a few walnut halves spaced evenly on top of the cake.
  8. Put it on a baking tray in the middle of a pre-heated oven set to 160°C (325°F).
  9. Cook for between 1:30 - 1:45 hours. Avoid checking it until at least an hour has passed, as this interferes with the rising process.
  10. Take the cake out of the oven when you're happy it looks done and leave it to cool for 5 minutes. Remove it from the cake tin and place it on a metal rack. Leave it to cool completely.
  11. Eat and enjoy!