BEST GINGER CAKE RECIPE IN THE WORLD RECIPES

Suitable for freezing (although the sponge also keeps well in an airtight box)
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Resting time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 1 hour

First, sift the flour and ground spices into a large bowl. Pour the milk into a large, heavy-based saucepan, add the sugar and let it dissolve over a medium heat, stirring frequently. As soon as it’s at scalding point, remove from the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda: watch out, it will fizz up a little. Leave to one side for 10 minutes.

Put the butter, black treacle and golden syrup into a medium saucepan, place on a medium heat and slowly bring up to a light simmer, until the ingredients have melted and formed a rich syrup. Whisk this mixture into the flour little by little; it will be quite firm to start with but once about half of it is in it will be a bit lighter on the whisk. Then gradually whisk in the milk mixture, until smooth. If it’s not smooth, pass the mixture through a sieve. Add the stem ginger pieces, ginger syrup and egg, give it a good whisk, then cover the bowl and leave to rest at room temperature for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/fan 140ºC/gas 3. Lightly grease a 26cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. Give the cake mixture a good stir and pour it into the prepared tin. Bake for about 1 hour, until firm to the touch.

Meanwhile, make the cider and caramel sauce. Put the apple juice and cider into a large, heavy-based saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until reduced by one-third.

Put the sugar, lemon juice and 25ml of water into another large, heavy-based saucepan. Heat the mixture slowly to dissolve the sugar, stirring, then bring to the boil and cook over a medium heat until the mixture caramelizes to a dark golden colour. Add the reduced cider/ apple juice (this stops the caramel from going any darker) and whisk in the butter. Mix in the cornflour with 15ml of water. Bring the cider mix up to a simmer and whisk in the cornflour mix. Simmer until thickened, then take off the heat and leave for 5–10 minutes to thicken a bit more.

When the cake is ready, leave it to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn out and either place on a rack to cool completely or serve straight away, with the warm cider and caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line with baking parchment.

In a food processor, whizz together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Put the golden syrup, black treacle, light brown sugar and diced stem ginger in a pan. Heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved, then cook for another minute over a high heat and remove.

Beat the eggs and milk into the syrup mixture, then mix into the flour and butter mixture. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir the ginger syrup and 2 tablespoons boiling water into the icing sugar until smooth. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes, then pierce all over with a skewer. Pour over the icing sugar mixture and leave to set before serving.

Cook's tip: if you have leftover slices that are going slightly stale, use them in a gingery version of a bread and butter pudding. Just switch white bread slices with the ginger loaf slices and sprinkle chopped crystallised ginger over them instead of sultanas.