As Halloween is just around the corner I thought I would get into the spirit(get it?) of making something for the theme and I was thinking nothing beats a bit of ginger cake. The fiery ginger taste and spice is just right for this chilly autumn weather, I am not liking the dark drive to work in the mornings 🙁 🙁 :(.
I absolutely loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Mcvities Jamaican ginger cake, I think without a doubt out of all the shop brought cakes this one is the best, a classic and it doesn’t have the horrible artificial taste. The end bits is definitely the best, I’m not usually partial to having the ends of things like bread(the big fat sliced one) but this is something I would fight for!
Anyway…
I wanted to have a go at make my own ginger cake, after searching through a couple of recipes I found one which I thought was perfect. I wanted to be able to create a sticky top like the Mcvities one and looking at the picture of their cake it looked quite sticky!
I had to buy a jar of stem ginger, I haven’t used stem ginger in syrup before when I tried a bit after opening it, it was sweet but still had that strong ginger taste, it’s something I would use again and thought of using it along side something chocolatey and pear soooo watch this space!
Whilst the mixture was bubbling away it smelt so lovely and spicy, I was getting really excited about eating it! such a fatty.
When the cake came out the oven I was really tempted to eat it…’no that’s naughty I had to tell myself’ anyway I had to resist as I needed to add the syrup and so I quickly pierced the cake and added the golden syrup and ginger syrup I think it’s important not to leave this and do it asap, as when it’s hot it will absorb more of the syrup.
The cake wasn’t the same as the Mcvities one but it was still really nice and it was moist, I would make this again and not just for Halloween yum yum yum!!!!!! I especially liked the surprised bits of chopped stem ginger that were scattered in the cake, which you don’t get into the good old Mcvities one! and the sticky topping. This is a lovely cosy cake to eat on a cold night warmed up with nice thick custard if you like that sort of thing or you could go for the creamy vanilla ice-cream whichever way it’s just yummy and spicy and probably be eaten very quickly.
Enjoy 🙂
- 125g – butter (salted or unsalted doesn’t matter)
- 125g – light muscovado sugar
- 85g – golden syrup
- 85g – black treacle
- 200ml – milk
- 3 – pieces stem ginger (I used 21/2) finely chopped
- 1 tbsp – ginger syrup from the stem ginger jar
- 250g – self raising flour
- 1 tsp – bicarbonate of soda
- 11/2 tsp – ground ginger (I used 1tsp)
- 1 tsp – cinnamon
- 2 – eggs (lightly beat them – it didn’t specify what size but I used large that’s the only ones I had but I think medium would be fine.)
- 1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
- 2. Place all the saucepan ingredients in the saucepan: butter, sugar, syrup, treacle, stem ginger, ginger syrup and milk.
- 3. Place the saucepan over a gentle heat until the ingredients have combined, stirring occasionally.
- 4. Once the ingredients are all combined, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes, I opened a window and let it cool.
- 5. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. It is important to use a large bowl as the mixture will swell when the wet ingredients are added.
- 6. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the beaten eggs. Gradually begin to combine the eggs and flour then start to add the contents of the saucepan slowly, folding the flour in as you go.
- 7. Once the ingredients have are mixed together pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin. Don’t worry if there are a few small lumps in the mixture, but there shouldn’t be any large lumps remaining.
- 8. Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes until the cake is risen and a dark golden brown colour. Test to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre and checking if it comes out clean.
- 9. Remove from the oven and prick all over with a skewer. Brush the top with a little more ginger syrup from the stem ginger jar or some golden syrup if you aren’t using the stem ginger. I used a bit of both as I’m greedy.
- 10. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- 11. Slice and serve. Also delicious warm with custard or ice cream.
- *Next time I would add the extra half of the ginger in as I don’t think it would be over powering and maybe add a dash of mixed spice.
