Sticky Ginger Cake with lemon drizzle icing

It’s been a busy baking weekend! It was the Ever Hungry Husband’s (EHH) birthday last week while we were on holiday, and so, as tradition goes, he has to take cakes into work. The trouble is, there are over 60 people to feed at his work! The easy (and cheaper) thing to do would have been to get him to buy 6 bags of 10 doughnuts from the supermarket. But I like a challenge!

So, after a lot of deliberation and searching of the recipe books and files, we decided on Sticky Ginger Cake, flapjacks, Apple Amazing Cake, Raspberry Bakewell Slices and a Caramel Layer Cake.

The great thing about my Sticky Ginger Cake recipe is that it keeps for up to 2 weeks – the flavour keeps developing and it keeps beautifully moist and sticky. I’ve had the recipe for ages – no idea where it came from originally! However, if you follow the instructions carefully, it comes out beautifully every time and tastes fantastic!

Sticky Ginger Cake with lemon drizzle icing

Ingredients

1.    225g self-raising flour

2.    1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

3.    2 tbsp ground ginger

4.    2 tsp ground cinnamon

5.    2 tsp ground mixed spice

6.    115g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing

7.    115g dark muscovado sugar

8.    115g black treacle

9.    115g golden syrup

10. 250ml whole milk

11. 85g drained stem ginger, finely chopped

12. 1 egg 

For the icing

1.    100g icing sugar, sifted

2.    Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3.    Lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Butter and line an 18cm round, 7cm deep cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and all the spices into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Put the sugar, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat, gently stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point. (It will split and go lumpy at this point – don’t panic! This is normal!)
6. Add the stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the treacle mixture, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon.
7. Break in the egg and beat until all the mixture is combined and it resembles a thick pancake batter.
8. Pour this into prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, until the cake springs back when touched.
9. Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out. (To freeze: wrap in greaseproof paper, then in cling film. Freeze for up to 1 month.)
10. To make the icing, mix together icing sugar and lemon zest, then gradually add lemon juice until you have a smooth, slightly runny icing, adding more juice, if needed.
11. Put icing into a disposable piping bag and drizzle icing in a zig-zag pattern over surface of cake, turn cake around and drizzle again to create the cross-hatched finish.
12. Cake keeps for up to 2 weeks stored in an airtight container.