Golden syrup ginger cake

There’s something about the onset of Autumn that just makes me want spice, syrup and sultanas...so this cake was the perfect choice for me! 

As soon as I made the batter I thought ‘this is far too runny to support the sultanas during baking’ and I was right.  The sultanas sank – even dusting them in flour couldn’t save them.  Personally, I didn’t care; my logic is that sunken sultanas are better than no sultanas but I think next time I might hold the sultanas back till the end and scatter them over the batter hoping that the sponge will start to firm before they can reach the bottom.

I served this as a cake with a cup of tea, but it would also be heaven warm with custard for dessert.  It’s a joyously sticky cake – best eaten with a fork!  At first it’s all about the golden syrup then the ginger burns through and you get that heavenly warming sensation in your mouth – I love ginger!

Chop the stem ginger as finely as you can – I used a mini processor because, as with peel, I find lumps of ginger an unpleasant texture to encounter in a cake.  Also, as with my note on the sultanas above, this is a runny batter and won’t support large inclusions.

I must end with a comment regarding the texture of this cake – it’s amazingly light.  It has the airy sponginess you only normally get from a steamed sponge pudding.  Of course, this means you can eat a much bigger slice.....

Ingredients

200g golden syrup
2 tablespoons ginger syrup from the stem ginger jar
110g unsalted butter
50g (approx 3 balls) stem ginger – chopped as finely as possible
130g sultanas
110g muscovado sugar – I used half light, half dark
250g self raising flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger – I like it hot, use 2 teaspoons if you don’t!
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
250ml milk – I used full fat (normally I use semi-skimmed, but I had some full fat to use up)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with a paper liner.  The batter is very runny so make sure you line the tin well.

Place the syrup, ginger syrup and butter in a sauce pan and melt over a very low heat; stir occasionally to ensure it combines.

Add the chopped ginger, sultanas and sugar and continue to heat until melted and combined.  Don’t let it boil at all.  Turn off the heat and put to one side.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda.

Stir the contents of the saucepan into the flour.

Gradually stir in the eggs and milk.

Don’t panic – the mix is runny.  But, make sure you bring the dry ingredients up from the bottom of the bowl as the batter is resistant to mixing!

Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.  Mine took a bit longer – just over 40 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack, remove when cool.

Store in an airtight container – the cake keeps well for days...actually it improves with age.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.