A wonderfully spicy sticky gingerbread cake recipe. It is such a fantastic classic cake recipe that just isn’t made often anymore. Enjoy this cake hot or cold, but personally I don’t think warm with a homemade vanilla custard can be beat.
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Tools
- Small sauce pot
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups or scale
- Measuring spoons
- Spatula
- 8×8 or a 9×9 baking tin, with parchment paper to line it with.
- Basting brush, natural bristle work the best for this.
Ingredients for gingerbread cake
Plain all purpose flour, you don’t need cake flour for this recipe we want a denser cake anyway.
Brown sugar, demerara would be good for this recipe
Baking soda also known as bicarbonate of soda
Ground ginger, this is obviously a very important ingredient. You could also tailor it to your own taste by adding a little more or less.
Salted Butter
Milk, try to use whole milk if you can although any cows milk will work. I haven’t use other milk options for the recipe so I am unable to say whether they will work or not.
Large egg, free range if possible
Golden syrup. This is a very British ingredient, here in Canada you can find it in a British section of the supermarket if you have one. If you are unable to find it then you can substitute it for a corn syrup, or honey but this will alter the flavour slightly.
Treacle or fancy molasses. If you can try and use treacle instead of the molasses.
Optional, stem ginger in syrup. This will add an extra kick of spice to the gingerbread, this is great if you love the spice of ginger.
How to make the gingerbread cake
Pre heat the oven to 325F, 160C, gas mark 3
In a small saucepan gently melt together the butter, golden syrup (corn syrup or honey), and treacle (molasses). Once the ingredients have all melted down add in the milk. Then place to one side.
In a medium sized mixing bowl add in all of the dry ingredients.
Add in the cooled sweet butter milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together.
Also mix the egg and beat the mixture really well so that all of the ingredients are combined.
The mixture will be quite sloppy but that is ok.
Line a 8×8 or 9×9 baking tin with some parchment paper I like to butter my tin first so that the paper stays in place. Pour in the gingerbread cake mixture, giving the tin a jiggle to level out the batter in the tin.
Place into the preheated oven and bake for around 45 minutes to an hour. You can check the bake by using a skewer, stick the skewer into the cake and if it comes out clean and free of batter then the cake is ready.
Remove the tin from the oven and carefully place the cake onto a cooling rack.
In a small bowl add a heaped teaspoon of syrup and pour over around a tablespoon or two of boiling water. Mix it until the syrup has dissolved then brush the liquid over the entire surface of the cake. I suggest brushing the syrup on in a couple of stages, this way it lets the liquid soak into the sponge really well.
Serving
The best way to serve this cake by having it warm with either ice cream or my personal favourite with homemade custard it is the best.
I would highly recommend making Delia Smiths proper custard recipe you can find it here. It is so easy to make and tastes amazing.
It will keep for around a week in an airtight container, you could also freeze this cake for a few months too.
Gingerbread Cake
A wonderful warm spicy sticky ginger cake that is perfect for winter. Enjoy it warm or cold it makes for a wonderful treat.
Ingredients
- 200g (1 1/4 cup) Plain all purpose flour
- 50g (1/4 cup) Brown demerara sugar
- 1 tsp Baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
- 1-2 tbsp Ground ginger
- Pinch salt
- 100g (1/2 cup) Salted butter
- 2 tbsp Golden syrup (corn syrup) plus a heaped tsp for the glaze
- 2 tbsp Fancy molasses or treacle
- 150mls (1/4 pt) Whole milk
- 1 Large egg
- optional, 2 tsp chopped Stem ginger
Instructions
Pre heat the oven to 320F, 160C, gas mark 3
- In a small saucepan gently melt together the butter, golden syrup (corn syrup or honey), and treacle (molasses). Once the ingredients have all melted stir in the milk. Place it to the side until needed
- In a medium sized mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients. This will be the flour, sugar, baking soda and ground ginger.
- Add the cooled sweet butter and milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together.
- Add in the egg and stem ginger if using. Beat the mixture really well so that all of the ingredients are combined. The mixture will be quite sloppy but that is ok.
- Line a 8x8 or 9x9 baking tin with parchment paper. Pour in the gingerbread cake mixture, giving the tin a jiggle to level out the batter in the tin.
- Place into the preheated oven and bake for around 45 minutes to an hour. You can check the bake by using a skewer, stick the skewer into the cake and if it comes out clean and free of batter then the cake is ready.
- Remove the tin from the oven and carefully place the cake onto a cooling rack.
- In a small bowl add the heaped tsp of syrup and around a tablespoon or two of boiling water. Mix it until the syrup has dissolved and brush the mixture over the cake. Try to do this in two stages to allow the syrup to soak into the cake.
The best way to serve this cake by having it warm with either ice cream or my personal favourite with homemade custard it is the absolute best.
Notes
- If you don't have whole milk then any cows milk will work fine. I haven't tried any dairy substitutes but they should also work but may change the cake slightly.
- Another option for the golden syrup would be honey but again this will affect the flavour but might be a nice natural alternative.
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