Gingerbread

I have spent decades planning to make Gingerbread and never got around to it. This month I decided to take action and the first place I looked was the recipe book I bought in Australia and is produced by Buderim Ginger. It was amazingly simple to make and tasted delicious so I have no need to search for any other recipe. If I can share the love and flavour of ginger then I am pleased to share this recipe. I only made one amendment and that was to add a little extra source of ginger!  I totally forgot to take a photo when I baked it; I was too busy eating it but I did manage a quick photo of the last piece before it was devoured ... oops!

Ingredients:

125g butter

125g soft brown sugar

125g black treacle

125g golden syrup

150 ml full-cream milk

250g plain flour

3-4 teaspoons ground ginger (I used 4 teaspoons as I love ginger)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 large egg, beaten

I added one ball of  preserved stem ginger in syrup, finely chopped

Makes 16

Method:

• Grease and line a 20 cm square cake tin. 
• Melt the butter, sugar, treacle, syrup and milk in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until lukewarm.
• Sieve the dry ingredients and stir into the liquid.
• Beat in the beaten egg, mixing until smooth, then spoon the mixture into the prepared tin ( poured it in as too runny to spoon without making a big mess)
• Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C (300°F) Gas Mark 2 for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours until cooked, or when a cocktail stick is inserted and comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack, then turn out of the tin onto the rack and cool completely.
• Cut into 16 pieces and serve immediately or transfer to an airtight tin and eat within 1 week (if you can restrain yourself that long)

I have never considered myself to be a baker and my cakes are never very light; but this is so simple. There is no labour intensive creaming and beating and folding and no opportunity for things to go wrong. Just melt, mix and pour. It has been a great hit with friends and family and was the first baked good to disappear from a sharing cake stand at a social event where this was my contribution.