I love to bake ginger cake in October. It's a little fiery and makes the perfect accompaniment to a warming paned (Welsh for cup of tea) after an afternoon working in the garden.
It's a Mary Berry's recipe and it keeps very well in an airtight container. In fact, in the book, Mary says: "it is better to keep it for three or four days before cutting".
First, I heat the oven to 160 °C and line a cake tin with greaseproof paper. I use a loaf tin but this recipe also works well in a 20-cm square or round cake tin.
Then, I melt 100 g of margarine in a small saucepan and warm it together with 175 g of golden syrup, 50 g of black treacle and 50 g of dark soft brown sugar. I remove this from the heat, add 150 ml of milk and leave to cool before adding 2 beaten eggs to the cooled mixture.
Next, I place 225 g of plain flour, 2 tsp of mixed spice, 2 tsp of ground ginger and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and give it a stir with a balloon whisk to make it light and fluffly (alternatively, sieve the flour). I make a well in the centre then pour the cooled milk and treacle mixture until it is all well blended.
This then goes into the prepared tin and I bake it for around 60-75 minutes until it is risen and golden brown.