Sticky Stem Ginger Cake

Ooops!

I borrowed this recipe from the Good Food Magazine but having looked at the ingredients I made a couple of changes and substituted the black treacle with golden syrup. If you feel that there just aren't enough calories in this cake you can add lemon icing for a bit of zesty enjoyment. Having just started a strict diet I thought I would leave the topping out. 

 

The original recipe suggests that you grate the stem ginger but I decide to chop mine into fine chunks. However, these do tend to sink to the bottom of the cake but I prefer chunky pieces of stem ginger.

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground mixed spice
115g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing the tin
115g dark Muscovado sugar
230g golden syrup
250ml semi-skimmed milk
85g drained stem ginger, finely chopped
1 egg

Method

1. Preheat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Butter and line a 2 lb loaf tin, with grease-proof or parchment paper.
2. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and all the spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Put the sugar, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat, gently stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.
4. Add the stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the treacle mixture, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon. Break in the egg and beat until the mixture is combined and it resembles a thick pancake batter. Pour this into prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin before turning cake out.

The finished cake is very light and moist and it will improve with age.

White Chocolate, Ginger and Custard Biscuits

I've slightly tweaked this Good Food recipe that is both quick and simple and a great way to involve the children, teaching them a little bit about baking. It producers a delicious crisp biscuit with chunks of white chocolate from the Dominican Republic with an added ginger kick to take some of the sweetness away. I've incorporated my own white chocolate that I use to make my chocolate bars but you can use a good white chocolate that can be found in any supermarket.

Ingredients:

140g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
225g self raising flour
85g custard powder
85g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks
50g stem ginger, chopped

Method:

1. Heat oven to 160C Fan
2. Line 3 baking sheets with baking parchment.
3. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor and blend on high until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and vanilla essence, and mix well.
5. Sift together the flour and custard powder, then pour into the bowl and pulse to mix into a dough. Don't be alarmed as the mixture turns slightly orange!
6. Take the mixture out of the food processor and blend in the chopped chocolate and ginger by hand.
7. Roll the dough into balls a little smaller than a walnut, then place on the baking sheets. Top Tip: Put some flour on your hands to stop the balls sticking.
8. Don't place them too close together to allow for spreading. Press each ball down with your fingers.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden.
10. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

This recipe made about 30 biscuits. Once cool, store in an air-tight container. They may or may not last for 10 days!

Dark Chocolate, Banana and Stem Ginger Cake

The Leather Bottle, Pleshey. A quaint pub (with real leather bottles in the window) in the centre of this extremely attractive Essex village which boasts a castle, well part of a castle, two pubs and a church. This was our choice for a quick pint and some well earned calories after speeding round the country lanes on our bicycles. A tiny snug bar with open fire was very welcoming after spending an hour in the garden waiting for the sun to shine.  A good selction of bitters including beers from the Black Sheep Brewery, the Black Sheep bitter was very good, almost comparable to Adnams.  However, the kitchen seemed to be on a go slow as we had to wait over an hour for a toasted cheese sandwich! The owner was very apologetic. Toasted sandwiches and chips hit the spot when they finally arrived! Well worth a visit but they need to resolve the problem in the kitchen!

Ok, let's bake a cake!

This is my version of a Good Food recipe I discovered a few days ago. I was tempted to use a 100% dark chocolate from Willies Cacoa that I purchased recently but chickened out and going for a 64% dark chocolate instead.

Ingredients

100g plain chocolate - I used a 64% dark chocolate
150g unsalted butter, softened
175g gold caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
175g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
25g cocoa
3 large bananas, peeled and diced
2 pieces of stem ginger (60g)
A pinch of salt (optional)

Topping

25g unsalted butter
2 generous tbsp plain flour
1 level tbsp demerara sugar
2 tbsp pecans, chopped

Chocolate, Banana and Ginger Cake

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160C Fan. Butter and line the bases of a 30CM loaf tin with baking parchment. Start by making the topping, rub the butter into the flour, then mix the demerara sugar and chopped pecans. Melt the chocolate in a small glass bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until smooth and remove from heat.
2. Cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg, beating well between each addition. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold in. Add the sliced (don't mash it) banana and stem ginger and chocolate and mix well. Christine's Top tip - Don't slice up the banana until you're ready to use it othewise it will go black.
3. Pour the mixture into the tin and add the topping gently pressing it into the top of the mixture to ensure some of it sticks.
4. Bake for about 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes in the tin then turn on to a rack to allow to cool completely.

The topping provides an extra crunchy dimension with the stem ginger providing some additional zing! Overall a delicious chocolate cake, can be served warm or cold.