Sunday 20 January 2013

Golden syrup cake





The latest baking publication to hit the newsagent’s shelves is called “30 Best Loved Recipes” and will build into a collection of books each focussing on a branded product.  We’re already up to part 5 and seeing that parts 1 & 2 were Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and Lyle’s Golden Syrup they were always going to end up in my greedy little hands!




I know I go on about my love of golden syrup but I really do love it!  I’ve read some comments on some other blogs and websites suggesting that the Lyle’s golden syrup book is unimaginative in that it contains recipes for flapjacks, biscuits and cakes...but in all honesty, these are the things I want to use syrup in.  I don’t want a book full of ways to use it in a curry or stews.




The recipe that stood out to me, because it seemed so decadent/grotesque (delete depending on your view of things), was the enormous sponge cake using a whole bottle of golden syrup.  A.  Whole.  Bottle.  Take new bottle from cupboard, empty into saucepan, throw away empty bottle.  Well, call me weird, but that was a clarion call if ever I heard one!




The strange thing is that this cake isn’t too sweet when you eat it.  It should be, but it isn’t.  The sponge is light and moist and the single dominant flavour is syrup.  We had it plain, with a cup of tea, and it was heavenly.  We warmed up thick slices and had it with custard for dessert and – shock – it was comfort in a bowl:




This makes a big cake.  Definitely one to bake when you have a lot of eaters on hand.  Big plus though, is that it keeps like gingerbread and just keeps getting better.


Ingredients

225g unsalted butter
225g light muscovado sugar
450g golden syrup, plus additional 4 tablespoons for pouring
450g self raising flour
2 eggs
300ml milk


Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/325°F/gas mark 3.

Line a 30cm springform round tin with baking paper.   The largest tin I had was 23cm so I used that – it meant I needed to bake it for longer but worked fine.

Place the butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until all the ingredients are melted and combined.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes or so.

In a large bowl, beat together the flour, eggs and milk.  It will look pale, lumpy and desperately unappetising at this point!

Pour the syrup mix in and beat until lump free and smooth.

Pour the batter (it will be runny) into the prepared baking tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes.  As I used a smaller tin – making a deeper cake – I needed to bake for longer.  In total it took somewhere in the region of 1 hour 15 minutes.  It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool on a wire rack – still in the tin – for 5 minutes, then drizzle the extra syrup over the top.

Leave to cool completely.

Serve on its own or with thick cream.  Also lovely warmed with custard for pudding.

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

Eat.

33 comments:

Debs Dust Bunny said...

This looks gorgeous! I love golden syrup, too. This goes to the top of the TO DO list.

Gloria Baker said...

This cake look heavenly, and georgeous and delicious :))))

Laura Loves Cakes said...

Oh my...a whole bottle of golden syrup...this must taste sooooooo good! I love golden syrup and all the recipes in the book are definitely all the things you would want to make with it!!! I MUST try this! :-)

Cakeyboi said...

It looks moist, sticky and delicious! The custard looks a perfect accompaniment. Bought the books themselves, but haven't opened them - yet!!

Lauren Roffey said...

A whole bottle?! Wow. Sounds lovely, especially warm with custard.

Soo said...

That looks like a perfect cake to have when wrapped up inside avoiding the snow. Particularly when accompanied by a cup of tea. Heaven.

cupcake girl said...

looks lovely + sticky.The pic with custard...yes please!
CC you have an awesome blog (love the about me bit), mine is a baby as I've just started myb you could have a look.

Lucy said...

Wow - a whole bottle of syrup! I love golden syrup so that must equal one gorgeous cake, going to look out for these books now.

Sue said...

I haven't tried anything from the "Golden syrup" book yet, but I did make the chocolate dipped (or in my case, drizzled) Viennese biscuits from the "Dairy Milk" book last week ... they were yummy!

Sarah-Jane - SiliconeMoulds.com said...

I can bet that was good and it looks a whopper of a cake !

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

An entire whole bottle of syrup?! Glorious, simply gloriosu! I think a whole bunch of people will be thanking you for trying this one out and assuring us it wasn't a typo when the recipe was written!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Your cake looks majestic, but a whole bottle. Oh my!

trash said...

A whole bottle?! Oh my stars!

Nickki said...

Oh wow! I love golden syrup and this looks perfect. I need to make this!

Cakelaw said...

Yummo - golden syrup + custard = heaven.

Katie said...

Looks fabulous and so comforting for this time fo year. I bet it would be fab steamed as an old fashioned pudding. Ohhh can't resist it with custard!

The amount of syrup isn't too drastic when you compare it to the other ingredients

Unknown said...

Cake that works with a cuppa or as a pudding has to be a good thing in my book. It sounds fantastic.

thelittleloaf said...

Oh yum yum yum! I ADORE golden syrup, it's such a strong, sweet, clean flavour and I can't imagine anything much better than an entire cake dedicated to it :-)

Maggie said...

I love golden syrup - especially licking the spoon. Great bake and I would only serve Birds custard with this:)

Hello said...

Wow, golden syrup always reminds me of my childhood and I didn't even know there was a book dedicated to it. Your cake looks beautiful and moist x

Jo said...

That is a mighty fine looking cake. I could also spend all day expressing my love for golden syrup. I used to make syrup sandwiches when I was little and if you're able to wait a minute, it makes the bread a little bit crispy!

Snowy said...

That cake looks great. I love Golden Syrup too, and a whole bottle - mmmmmm!

Fuss Free Helen said...

How delicious! I have the books too although have not made anything.

I love my golden syrup in the squeezy bottle, although it does lack the looks of the tin!

Anonymous said...


I love your blog, I bake no fuss down to earth cakes and I guess you can't get much more down to earth than golden syrup cake. I would like to know however whether some of the sugar can be cut. If it can, would 20% be too much, or would it really, really affect the yumliness of the cake? I promise I am not a robot so would appreciate some advice.

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Anonymous

I wondered about the sugar too. It certainly wouldn't affect the taste but I'm not sure about the texture - I'm never sure if you risk altering the chemical balance of the cake if you take out too much of one ingredient. I reckon you could probably get away with 20% less but I wouldn't go more than that.

I understand your concern about the sugar levels, but if it's purely that you fear the cake will be too sweet - trust me, it isn't!

Happy baking

Jessica Robert said...

Magic cake! Beautiful!

Suzee said...

Made this cake today - and I'm here to tell you guys..... IT'S AWESOME !!!! Yes I realise that the ingredients look like a heart attack waiting to happen but it's so worth it !! Make it NOW !!

Anonymous said...

I actually love you for posting this recipe! I tried one out last summer and it sank. It was a complete fail and since I have been on the hunt. Now, it is over!

Unknown said...

Found this recipe on Sunday and made for pudding... DELISH!!!! I still have a couple of pieces left for tomorrow and then that's it :-(
No fear though, have just noticed the Golden Syrup AND ginger cake... That's this weekend sorted then!
Hope you don't mind, have blogged the recipe and my thoughts on it, with link back to your page.

truearchetypeandhome said...

Just wanted to let you know I tried baking this cake today and it is absolutely amazing.

I wanted to use Golden Syrup due to a recent addiction to porridge + golden syrup

It is lovely, thank you

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Truearchetypeandhome

I share your addiction to porridge and golden syrup...maybe we should form some sort of support group?

Glad you loved the cake.

Happy baking!

Unknown said...

Have made this a few times now all ways a success work mates love it, I find it go's a long way if you share the batter between 2 loaf tins you all ways get 2 perfect cakes..

groceries2go said...

Thanks for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further write. Lyles Golden Syrup