Stem Ginger Cake

This is the recipe that I used for the wedding cake for Joe's manager.

It's rich, moist and is actually a lot better after being kept in an airtight container for a couple of days. It's great served plain as a teatime cake but even better iced with Maple Syrup Buttercream for a more indulgent treat!

Ingredients

270g self-raising flour
115g butter
115g dark muscavado sugar
115g treacle
115g golden syrup
250ml full-fat milk
85g preserved stem ginger, grated
1 egg
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Mix the flour, bicarb and all the spices in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Heat the sugars, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point.

Add the shredded stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the liquid mixture, beating well to avoid any lumps.

Add the egg and stir in to combine. The mixture will be the consisitency of a thick pancake batter.

Pour this into a buttered and lined 18cm round cake tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out fairly clean.

Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out.