Gingerbread

I love gingerbread, but I have never tried making it before (until now!).  It turned out to be quite a dense cake, but nonetheless tasty and really good with yoghurt or custard!  I had made it for a Dove Pink Ribbon morning tea I was hosting to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation, and it was å successful, enjoyable morning/afternoon/whole day event!

This recipe comes from my book "All Things Nice" with Jo Seagar.

Gingerbread

125g butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup treacle
1/2 cup milk
3 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 heaped Tbsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

I am lucky that my flatmate has a coffee grinder - which is perfect for grinding up fresh spices.  I buy cinnamon sticks and just grind them in the coffee grinder, which gives it a wonderful fresh taste and smell. I do the same with cloves.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.  Line a 23cm square cake tin or small roasting dish with baking paper (I just used a round cake tin and greased it and dusted it with flour).

Heat the butter, sugar and treacle together in a saucepan until butter is just melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the milk.  Cool slightly.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.  Make a well in the centre and tip in the liquid ingredients.  Mix quickly without overmixing.

Pile the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until the gingerbread is nicely risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before tipping out onto a cake rack.  Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Enjoy!